Echoes in the Wind
by Dreamchasereternity
Summary: This takes place 3 months after the crystal was recovered. Autumn's in for a surprise when Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara come to her school! COMPLETE! R
1. Nightmare

Dream: Well hello there! 

Freckles: *grumbling* hi.

Falcon: What's wrong with fluffy?

Chuchu: he mad cuz he's not gonna be able to tell the story this time. 

Falcon: Oh. 

Dream: he also is going to have to share the spotlight with you two 'cuz three cute wittle animals are betta than one! ^_^

Freckles: ;_; I'm so depressed…

Falcon: Right well hello everyone! I'm Falcon, dream's society finch (for those who can't remember nething that happened over four seconds ago) This is the sequel to 'The Season of the Crystal Feather' and if you didn't read that then you'll have no idea what's going on! ^_^

Freckles: yea. The main point of this fic is…

Dream: HISSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can't tell them that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They'll have to find out for themselves!

Freckles: o.O;;; please don't hiss nemore…

Falcon: …Dream doesn't own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters. 

Chuchu: *hopping up and down* She does own Autumn (herself), Dariken, Thorn, The birds, and Speckles!

Freckles: MY NAME IS FRECKLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *starts chasing Chuchu around*

Dream & Falcon: …*watching*

Falcon: start the story now!

Dream: ok!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          It had been over three months since the crystal had been recovered. Life had returned pretty much back to normal.

          "ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A loud yell was heard echoing through the house. "WHERE THE CHEESEMONKEYS IS MY NOTEBOOK????????????????????????"

          A chocolate haired girl was throwing things around her room. She was looking for the rose patterned notebook that she had been writing her daily thoughts in. She had very private thoughts in there and if anyone ever saw it…well something very bad would happen to that person.

          "FRECKLES HAVE YOU SEEN MY NOTEBOOK???" The girl stopped throwing things and looked around her room. The rabbit was no where to be seen. "Freckles?" A pile of clothes in the middle of the room stirred. The girl rubbed her head, "Oops." She then moved the clothes off of the unhappy rabbit. 

"AUTUMN!!!!! SPECKLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A squeaky little voice yelled as a round little creature with mouse ears and a pompom tail ran into the room. 

          "What is it, Chuchu?" Autumn asked. 

          Chuchu stopped to think, "…I ferget."

          Autumn sighed, "Help me find my notebook; I need to write something down before I forget."

          "OH YEAH! I found it! It's on the kitchen table!" Chuchu smiled.

          "…crap, why didn't I look there before tearing my room apart???" Autumn got up and went to fetch her book. She sat down and was just about to start writing when the phone rang.

          "Hello?" 

          "HI AUTUMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S ME!!!!!! MARGARET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          Autumn flinched and held the phone away from her ear, "Oh, hi Margaret."

          "GUESS WHAT?" 

          "What?"

          "You have to guess!"

          "Ok, umm…you found a truckload of pixie sticks and have eaten half of them within the past 6 seconds?"

          "I wish. No silly! It's Saturday! You know what that means!" Autumn guessed that Margaret's face looked like this: ^_^

          "Unlimited weekend minutes?"

          "YUP!!!!!!!!!! WE CAN TALK FOREVER AND EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          Again Autumn moved the phone away from her ear, "Are you sure you didn't eat a truckload of pixie sticks?"

          "No. I ate a really big pixie stick."

          Autumn sighed and made herself comfortable on her bed. She knew she wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. 

          ~*~Later that night…

          _The night air was thick with the scent of blood. The smoke from the fire that was quickly consuming everything that she held dear stung her sensitive nose. Her small ears twitched as she desperately sought to find any sign of her mother or sister. _

_Her stormy blue eyes were clouded with tears as she passed by yet another of the kitsune that had once been her friends. They were all lying in puddles of the foul smelling life liquid. Where had once been luxurious tails were now holes, empty and bleeding. She wasn't sure how any one could be so cruel. What had they ever done wrong? _

_The little black fox climbed up a tree and curled up into a ball on one of the branches. She knew the fire was getting closer and that it was stupid to hide in a tree but she didn't care. She closed her eyes tightly. She longed for her older brother's company. He said he would always protect her because she was his baby sister so why wasn't he there? Why didn't he pick her up and carry her away from this nightmare? Why couldn't she find the courage to get out of that tree and find her family??? She knew why…it was because she knew it was too late. Deep in her heart she knew…_

Autumn woke up with a start. She rubbed her head, _Not that dream again…Maybe it means something…I should tell someone about it…_ She rubbed her eyes. She had been crying. She looked at the clock, _2AM__??? Stupid dreams!!!!!! Oh well… I doubt I'll be able to get back to sleep… She fell right back into a deep dreamless sleep._

Her Sunday morning consisted mostly of waking up at noon, letting the rabbit out of the cage, cursing the person who invented Sundays and lazing around doing nothing of any importance. She decided to get her homework over with so that she would have the rest of the afternoon free for herself. 

Autumn flopped down onto her bed. School was annoying, to say the least. All the idiots at her school were driving her insane. The racism was out of control. Her town truly was 'White Islip.' Weekends were her days to escape and relax. Two whole days without seeing or hearing any idiots… 

She looked at her clock, 4 PM. She smiled when she heard the phone ringing. _Right on schedule! _

She rushed to find the phone. "ARRRGGHHHH!!!!!!! WHERE'S THE PHONE???????????" 

Chuchu poked her head out from under the pile of junk that Autumn had neglected to pick up. "It's unda hea!" she said pulling out the phone.

"What was the phone doing under that junk? Hello?" Autumn asked after answering the phone.

"Did you misplace your phone again?" a voice said over the phone.

"No, Chuchu hid it." 

"Yup! I hide things good!" (Close-up of large stuffed animal "hidden" under a piece of paper.)

Autumn sighed before smiling, "So how was your day, Kurama?" It was 6 PM Monday over there. She knew he was just going to say 'fine.' He never complained about school.

"Fine. I have a surprise for you." 

"A surprise?!? Yay! What is it?" 

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise!" Kurama laughed.

"Can't you at least gimme a hint?" 

"Nope. You'll find out tomorrow."

"NO! I can't wait that long! The suspense is killing me!!! ACK!!!" Autumn fell dramatically on her bed letting the phone bounce on her blanket. She lay still.

Chuchu poked Autumn. "You okay?...SPECKLES!!!!!! AUTUMN DIED!!!!!!! SPECKLES!!!!!" Chuchu started running in frantic circles. 

Autumn burst out laughing and sat up. "I'm not dead!"

"Oh… I knew that…"

Autumn picked the phone back up, "Now, about that surprise…"

"What surprise?" Autumn could almost hear Kurama's smirk.

She made a sniffling noise, "You don't love me enough to tell me…"

"No! That's not it! I want you to be surprised! I do love you!"

Autumn smiled, "Aww! Ok, Kurama, I'll wait."

A loud crashing noise came from the kitchen. Autumn walked in and groaned, "Kurama? I'm gonna hafta call you back, ok?"

"Sure." 

Autumn put down the phone and crossed her arms. "Anything to say for yourself, hairball?" 

Freckles looked up innocently from among the fallen Christmas ornaments, "I didn't do it I swear!" 

Autumn walked over and roughly pushed the rabbit away. She then stood the tree back up and replaced the ornaments. It took her half an hour because the rabbit kept pulling things off the tree. After that she picked the phone back up and dialed Kurama's number.

"Moshimoshi?" A young boy's voice asked.

"Hi Shuuichi. Can I talk to Shuichi?" Autumn laughed. 

"AUTUMN!!! I wanted to say hi to you but flower boy wouldn't let me! He's so mean!" 

"Flower boy?" 

"Yeah, flower boy. Guess what?"

"Please don't make me guess…"

"My brother was talking about you this morning!"

"He was?"

Shuuichi looked around the kitchen. His dad and step-mom were sitting at the table laughing slightly and talking. He heard his brother coming downstairs. "Yeah he was."

"...did he tell you what the surprise is?" Autumn questioned urgently.

Shuuichi laughed, "Nope." His brother walked in and started to get ready a cup of tea. Shuuichi continued in a louder voice so that Kurama would hear, "He called you his little dove. He said that you're pretty like a dove, peaceful like a dove, and that he loves you lots."

By this time Kurama was looking at him suspiciously, "Shuuichi, who are you talking to?"

"Your dove." Shuuichi mocked.

"SHUUICHI!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME THE PHONE NOW!!!!" Kurama yelled.

Shuuichi stuck out his tongue, "I'm not done telling her all the stuff you say about her."

Shiori and Kurama's stepfather (anyone know his name???) laughed as they watched Kurama chasing Shuuichi around the room. Kurama finally caught Shuuichi and took the phone.

He took a deep breath and put the phone to his ear. Autumn was laughing. "Hello Autumn." 

"Dove, huh?"

Kurama mentally cursed Shuuichi and walked out of the room. "What happened before?" he said hoping to change the subject.

Autumn decided not to bother him further, "Freckles knocked over the Christmas tree…again…" She gently pushed the rabbit with her foot. It was then that she remembered her dream. "Kurama, I have something important to tell you about, promise you'll listen?"

Kurama was puzzled by the sudden sadness in Autumn's voice. _I hope she doesn't have a boyfriend…_ he thought. "Yes, I'll listen."

"Good. Let's see… where should I start…" Autumn stretched out on her bed. "Well…I've been having this dream lately… more like a nightmare actually. A really freaky nightmare. It's almost like a story. Every night that I have the dream it's like a continuation of the previous night. Last night was the worst so far. I was actually crying when I woke up." She shivered as she remembered the overwhelming sadness she felt at that moment.

Kurama was getting worried. He knew that whatever this dream was about it couldn't be only a dream. "Go on…" he prompted.

Autumn told him about the dream in full detail. She was trying desperately to hide her sobs but Kurama still heard them. "Perhaps this dream is a memory… like the dreams you had during the search for the crystal. This could be a memory of what happened to the Mist Mountain Kitsune."

Autumn nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. She said what she was thinking in a shaky voice, "Kurama, I'm scared. I know what's going to happen next but at the same time I don't and I really don't want to find out!" 

Kurama wished he was there to comfort her. "It'll be alright. If you were able to live with the memories before you can live with them now."

"I guess…" Autumn sighed and hugged Chuchu close to her. "I wish you were here." 

"So do I…So do I" Kurama looked over at the suitcases by his door and sighed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Well that was the first chap of the sequel!

Falcon: tell us what you thought about it!

Freckles: That was kinda creepy…

Dream: yeah, I know. I meant to say this earlier but my story isn't going to be as happy as the last one. Sure, it'll have humor in it but there'll always be this underlying melancholy mood…

Falcon: Tune in next time to find out what's up with the suitcases!


	2. Surprises and Sugar

Dream: HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Falcon: o.o;;; Are you okay?

Dream: NO! Oh wait… I mean… YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Falcon: o.O umm…

Chuchu: Hey do you know that my name means Squeak squeak in English?

Freckles: Quiet Squeak squeak nobody cares.

Falcon: I care.

Dream: *hops up and down waving arm in the air* ME TOO!!!! ME TOO!!!!! I CARE!!!!!!! MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Falcon and Freckles: o.o;;;

Chuchu: *also hopping up and down* YAY!!!!!!!!!! YOU CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream: ^_^ LET'S DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *puts on a sombrero and takes out maracas* (Got the maracas idea from OkageHime. Read her stories… OR ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) 

Chuchu: YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *also puts on a sombrero*

Dream and Chuchu: *dance stupidly*

Falcon and Freckles: o.O;;;

Falcon: Do you know these two?

Freckles: Never met them before in my life. You?

Falcon: Nope. ANYWAYS… The chapters aren't going to start with the ending sentence of the last chapter nemore unless the chapter is a continuation of a previous day. Ok…well…enjoy…

Freckles: *starry eyes* Since Dream's crazy maybe I can tell the story today!

Dream: In your dreams hairball! I can tell a story and dance at the same time! 

Freckles: *cries*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_I hate Mondays… _Autumn thought as she stared out the window at the snow from the preseason blizzard that had come that weekend. She was wearing all black: Black long pants, a long black shirt that said 'I have gone to find myself. If I get back before I return, Keep me here' (A.N: Hot Topic) and a black sweatshirt with cat ears on the hood (A.N: also Hot Topic). 

It was Third period, English… She was so bored.

"And tomorrow you'll all be presenting your songs and poems to the class!" Her teacher, Mrs. Yoder said happily. Everyone groaned.

Autumn smirked. _Yay, I get to torment my class with almost 5 minutes of Japanese music! _

Yoder turned her attention elsewhere. Autumn pulled out paper and started drawing. She paused, _Wait…wasn't there something that I wanted to write on Saturday…? Somehow she survived all her classes until 9th period. (A.N: Lemme explain this class. It's a science lab. One half of the room has long rectangular desks arranged in a big rectangle. That's where we sit. The other half has lab tables and equipment to do projects and things. The class itself has different grades in it: 9th-12th. There are only about 10 kids in the class and only two girls including me. I hate that.)_

_WOO!!! LAST PERIOD!!!!!!!!! UH-HUH!!!!! UH-HUH!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!! _Autumn danced mentally.

Her research teacher Mr. Purdy walked in, "Class, we're going to the planetarium today so I can finish a show…"

Shouts of joy erupted among the small class. Autumn put away her book. When it was quiet Mr. Purdy continued, "But first I want to introduce you to our new foreign exchange student! He's from Japan and he's only staying for a while." He stepped aside to reveal a certain emerald eyed red head. Autumn's jaw dropped. Mr. Purdy continued, "Everyone this is…"

"SHUICHI?!?!?!?" Autumn called out pointing.

Kurama smiled, "Hello, Autumn."

Autumn got out of her chair and walked around Kurama in a circle. Still not believing he was there she pinched her arm. Satisfied she threw her arms around him, "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE REALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She then realized the rest of the class was staring at her. She laughed nervously and let go of Kurama.

His smile widened, "Surprised?"

"What do you think???" Autumn then glared at him and crossed her arms, "You should've told me you were coming! I would've made it a point **_not_** to wear my schizophrenia shirt!"

Kurama laughed after reading her shirt to see what she meant. Mr. Purdy scratched his head, "Well, Autumn, why don't you introduce your friend to the rest of us?"

"Uhh…ok!" Autumn cleared her throat. "Everyone, this is Minamino Shuichi! Shuichi's his first name. He's really good at biology and everything else school related. Shuichi, this is…" Autumn had to fight the urge to insult them. "…the research class I was telling you about."

"Ah." Kurama nodded. 

Frank, one of the ninth grade boys (A.N: *cough*idiot*cough*) spoke up, "If Shuichi's his first name, why'd you say it last."

"That's the way they say it in Japan because the family name is more important when making an introduction. (A.N: I think that's right…)" Autumn stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

Justin Rose, the only 12th grader also had a question, "How do you know someone from Japan?"

Autumn blinked, "…Internet…" (A.N: One of the few things I found funny about the Fairly OddParents…I hate Nickolodeon…) 

"Alright everyone let's go to the planetarium!" Mr. Purdy said holding the door open for everyone.

The students filed out of the classroom happily. Kurama and Autumn trailed in the back just in front of Mr. Purdy. Kurama put his arm around Autumn's shoulders. She glared at him, "You're mean! You should've told me you were coming!"

"You should've seen your face…It was priceless!" Kurama chuckled.

Autumn rolled her eyes, "So what're you doing here?"

Kurama smiled, "You heard the teacher, I'm here as a foreign exchange student." 

"Alright you lovebirds pick up the pace!" Mr. Purdy said from behind them. Autumn and Kurama laughed from embarrassment and started walking faster.

A girl with short reddish brown hair was walking up the stairs toward them. She stopped, "Hey Autumn!"

"Hi Terry!" Autumn waved.

Teresa pointed at Kurama, "Hey, isn't that the Japanese guy? Why does he have his arm around your shoulder? Are you two going out???"

"Maybe…" Autumn teased.

"Are you???"

"I said maybe!" Autumn pulled away from Kurama and started walking down the stairs. Kurama and the teacher followed.

"AUTUMN! ARE YOU GOING OUT WITH THAT JAPANESE GUY???????????" Teresa yelled loudly.

"TERESA!" Autumn yelled back at her friend.

"Oh…that was…loud…"

"YA THINK???" Autumn glared at Teresa.

"Well, are you???" People were poking their heads out of classrooms and shushing them.

Autumn sighed and scratched her head, "No."

"You coulda said that from the start!" Teresa walked away.

Mr. Purdy shook his head and walked past them. Kurama grabbed Autumn's arm, "You should've said yes."

"…but we're not…are we?"

"Now we are." Kurama put a rose in her hair.

Autumn blinked. She didn't know what to say. A hall monitor was standing there tapping her foot, "Excuse me but you two should get to class."

Autumn laughed nervously, "Uh…yeah…class…right! C'mon Shuichi! I'll show you where the planetarium is!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him off toward the planetarium.

When they walked into the planetarium the class was looking at them and smiling. Autumn glared at everyone. "What are all of you looking at!?!?!" she snapped.

Greg, yet another 9th grade idiot, pointed at the rose, "So are you two going out? You act like it!"

Autumn walked past him and sat down. "Yeah we are! So what?"

Greg and Frank gasped and started whispering to each other. "She's going out with someone from Japan! **_Japan_****_!_" Greg said.**

"She's anti-American!" Frank added.

Autumn rolled her eyes. Kurama laughed, "I see what you mean about them. I'm assuming they are Greg and Frank?"

"Yup."

The lights were turned off. Kurama leaned over to Autumn, "Yusuke and Kuwabara came too. They'll be starting classes tomorrow. I believe Yusuke will be in your art class and they both will be in your lunch period."

"**_WHAT??? Yusuke's taking art?!?" _**Autumn hissed.

"He was forced to."

"Ah…**_Yusuke AND Kuwabara were selected for the foreign exchange student program?!?!" _**

"I believe Yusuke threatened his principle into letting them go."

"Oh…What's Hiei doing with all of you gone?" She had a momentary vision of Hiei in a party hat dancing.

"He followed."

'_What's the mission?' _Autumn asked Kurama telepathically.

'_To find Phantom Harmony. Don't worry, I didn't tell them.'_ Kurama answered.

_'WHAT?!? How'd they track me to here?!?' _

_'Anonymous tip.'_

_'…Well that sucks.' _

"Hey, are you really from Japan?" A boy with long hair asked Kurama from the seat behind. 

"Hai." Kurama turned to look at the boy.

The boy extended his hand, "Hi, I'm Ben. This is Peter." Ben indicated the boy next to him.

Kurama shook Ben's hand, "Konnichiwa Ben-san (A.N: @_@ did I use that right???). Konnichiwa Peter-san."

"Hi." Peter replied from the back.

Greg and Frank started whispering more. Autumn rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah, that's mature."

"Those two are **_NEVER_ mature." Peter said.**

Kurama smiled, "That's what Autumn told me."

Autumn had been zoning off because of her short attention span. (A.N: ^_^ YAY! I insulted myself!) Kurama waved his hand in front of her face. He then snapped his fingers by her ear. She sat up straight, "1987!" She looked around, "Oh…oops."

Kurama laughed and pulled her close, "You can be so funny at times."

Autumn's eye twitched, "Ow…arm of chair…crushing…spleen…"

Kurama laughed again and let go of her. Ben blinked, "So…you two are really going out?"

"None of your business, but yes, yes we are." Autumn smiled

They continued talking for the rest of the period. After school Kurama gave Autumn a kiss goodbye on the cheek and walked off. Autumn rushed home and immediately called Margaret.

"GUESS WHAT!?!" It was Margaret's turn to hold the phone away from her ear.

"What, Autumn?"

"Kurama and I are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend!!!" Autumn was practically jumping up and down. Chuchu started hopping around too.

"WOW COOL!!! Did you hook me up with Hiei?"

"NO!!!" Autumn said happily before getting screamed at.

"WHAT!?! I TOLD YOU TO HOOK ME UP WITH HIEI!!!" 

"Whoa… calm down Margaret, take deep breaths…"

"Grrr…." 

"Chuchu want food! Open magic ice box and give Chuchu food!" Chuchu glared at Autumn.

Autumn could hardly focus on her homework or anything else for that matter. When her mom got home she hopped up and down, "Mom, y'know Shuichi who I've been talking to on the phone?"

"Shiori's son." Autumn's mom nodded.

"HE CAME TO MY SCHOOL AS A FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENT!!!!!!!!"

"I know. Shiori told me he was coming."

"WHAT?!?! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW???"

"Yes, Shuichi wanted to surprise you. He wanted to ask you to be his girlfriend, did he?"

Autumn pointed at the rose in her hair. Her mom smiled, "How sweet! He gave you a rose!"

The night passed without a dream and Autumn woke up as happy as someone who has to wake up at 6AM every day can be. During English she was the second one to present her song. 

_'…maru de kurai daichi ni saku _

_akai bara no you ni sa _

_daremo ga jibun to tatakau soldier _

_kurushimi fumikoe ashita wo tsagasu _

_Soldier of Love…' _[1]

Autumn was trying to avoid looking at the class even though she was curious to see their expressions. Instead she focused her thoughts on art class. _Ok, this is most likely what's going to happen: a) Yusuke gets pissed off and beats somebody senseless b) nothing happens c) Yusuke doesn't show up or d) …Yusuke goes crazy and takes over the school with a plastic spoon and holds us all hostage until the government gives him 300 lbs of cheddar cheese! …damn! I'm in one of my insane moods!!! Death shall befall any who dare to cross my path today!!! ALL SHALL FEAR THE GIRL WEARING THE KITTY SWEATSHIRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHA!!!!!!!!! _Autumn suddenly snapped back to reality as she noticed that the song was almost over and that she had been smiling with an insane look on her face.

"Class, we have a new student joining our class today. His name's Yusuke Urameshi. He's from Japan so try to be nice to him. Let's see…where should I put you…?" The art teacher looked around the room while Yusuke stood there bored out of his mind.

Autumn was off in her own little world and didn't even realize she was in art class. Yusuke pointed at her table, "Can I sit over there?"

"Sure, why not." The art teacher walked out of the room to get supplies. Yusuke sat down across from Autumn.

"Good Morning Autumn. How do you manage to stay awake after waking up so early???" Yusuke paused, "…Autumn? Hello? Ningenkai to Autumn!" He shook her shoulders gently.

"The square root of cheese is cantaloupe divided by monkey multiplied by shoe." Autumn babbled.

Yusuke blinked, "…o…k…"

"Purple aardvarks are eating your shoes."

There was whispering around the room. Mostly about Yusuke. The teacher was still out of the room so one boy yelled at 

Yusuke, "Go home Japanese boy! We don't want you here! TERRORIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Autumn finally snapped out of it. "Huh? What's going on? When did I get to art class? Oh, hi Yusuke!"

Yusuke sweat dropped, "Well it's about time you stopped babbling like an idiot and came to your senses."

Autumn smiled, "Hey, I'm tired I have a right to babble like an idiot!"

"Kurama was happy yesterday. I assume you and him are going out?" Yusuke had a sly grin on his face.

Autumn smiled, "Yep. I barely slept because I was practically bouncing off the walls yesterday."

"So that's why you're zoning out?"

"Nope, that's normal for me."

"Oh…"

 "GO HOME TERRORIST!!!!!" Greg from Autumn's research class yelled.

Yusuke twitched and stood up, "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, SHRIMP?!?"

"HEY!" There were whispers going around the class. 

"You can't come here to OUR school and start insulting us, Japanese boy!" another boy, Dennis said.

"I wasn't insulting **_YOU _I was insulting ****_HIM!!!!!_" Yusuke pointed at Greg.**

"You wanna fight, terrorist?!? I'll beat you to a pulp! WEAK LITTLE JAPANESE PUNK!!!" Dennis stood up to face Yusuke.

"Sure why not. I need a new punching bag anyway."

"I thought that's why you were keeping Kuwabara around." Autumn said.

Yusuke laughed, "He's Hiei's punching bag." 

"YO! We gonna fight, or what?!?"

"What's going on here???" the teacher, Mr. Santeramo, yelled as he walked back into the room. Dennis and Yusuke were still 

glaring at each other.

"He started it by insulting us." Dennis pointed at Yusuke. There were shouts of agreement among the other students.

"No I didn't!" Yusuke yelled back.

Mr. Santeramo looked around suspiciously. Autumn spoke up, "They were taunting Yusuke. He was defending himself."

"Dennis I want to speak with you after class." Mr. Santeramo said.

"What, you believe her over all of us? She sympathizes with the terrorists!" Greg pointed at Autumn accusingly.

"Greg, you too."

The rest of the period was full of lots of glaring and little pieces of paper being flung around the room. After art, Autumn led Yusuke to the cafeteria. She sat down at her table in the back.

"HI KELLY!!!!" Autumn said happily.

"Hi. Who's he?"

"Who's who?" Autumn blinked. "OH! This is Yusuke. Yusuke this is Kelly."

"Hey." Yusuke shrugged and sat down on the bench so that he could lean on the wall.

"Hi."

          Autumn sat down and soon a brown haired girl walked over and put her books down. Autumn smiled, "HI R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (A.N:This is OkageHime. She shall be known as R)"

          "Hi." R looked at Yusuke, "Is he your boyfriend?"

          "Eww… Nope! My boyfriend's a different Japanese guy!"

          Suddenly Kuwabara came running in the door, tripped over someone's foot, slammed into the wall, and fell onto the floor. R poked him with her pencil, "Is it breathing?"

          "Ow…" Kuwabara sat up rubbing his head. 

R and Autumn pointed at Kuwabara, "Zombie!"

"Hey Urameshi! I told you to wait for me!"

"I didn't want to get lost so I followed Autumn to her locker."

"You should've brought me along…"

Autumn whispered something to R. R smiled and poked Kuwabara's hair with her pencil. "Is it alive?"

Kuwabara blinked, "HEY! No touching the hair!"

"Umm…do you realize that you're sitting on the cafeteria floor and that everyone is staring at you?" Kelly pointed at Kuwabara.

"Oh…" Kuwabara got up and sat down on the bench across from Yusuke.

"BAKA!!!!!" R and Autumn yelled at him.

"Oh yeah, this is Yusuke and this is Kuwabara. Guys this is R and Kelly." Autumn nodded. 

"Hey Autumn, I think Kurama likes you." Kuwabara said stupidly.

"Of course he does baka! He's my boyfriend!"

"Oh…" Kuwabara blinked.

One of the preppy girls sitting in the table in front of them put her books on their table. Yusuke pushed the books off. The prep picked up the books and put them back. Again Yusuke pushed them off. The girl picked them up and slammed them onto the table. Yusuke pushed them off causing some of them to slide across the cafeteria. The girl put her hands on her hips and yelled at Yusuke, "What the hell is your problem????"

"You've got plenty of room on your own table. WHY ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR BOOKS ON OURS???" Yusuke yelled.

"Because I want to!"

"Well fine!" Yusuke grabbed Autumn's books, walked over and slammed them onto the prep's table. "Then I'm going to put my books on **_your_** table!"

Autumn blinked, "…but I need to do my homework…"

Kuwabara decided to follow Yusuke's example. He reached over to take Kelly's books. She slapped his hand without looking up from her math homework. "Mine." Kelly said.

Autumn and R started laughing. Yusuke was still yelling at the prep. He eventually got so pissed that he picked up her books and threw them in the trash can. He then brought Autumn's books back and sat down whistling happily.

"URAMESHI!!! That was mean!!!" Kuwabara yelled.

Yusuke kept whistling.

Autumn and R were laughing hysterically and pointing at the prep who was trying to get back her books. Kuwabara turned on them.

"How can you think that's funny?!? Have you no honor?!?"

Autumn gave him the victory sign thing(^_^V) "The evil moose will devour your soul, that it will!"

R laughed, "Pie is my priority!"

Kuwabara blinked and whispered to Yusuke, "I think they're insane..."

"What was your first clue?" Yusuke was still very pleased with himself.

Autumn started twitching. "I'm bored. SOMEBODY GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO!!!!!!"

"Act like a squirrel." Yusuke said randomly. 

Autumn immediately started imitating a squirrel. She picked up her ice cream and held it like a squirrel holds a nut. She then started twitching her nose a bit and making little squeak noises.

Everyone at the table was laughing hysterically. Autumn was spurred on by the laughter and took Kelly's pen. She hid it under Kelly's jacket and proceeded to hide other things.

Hiei outside on the roof was watching all this take place. He shook his head, _this is the girl Kurama's fallen in love with??? Baka kitsune... _

Research class rolled around again and Autumn was in a super happy mood. When Kurama walked in and sat down next to her she was experiencing a delayed sugar rush from lunch. 

"HI SHUICHI!!!!! How was your day? Was it good? I had a great day! Did you? Huh? Huh? Didja? CHEESE!!!! I saw Hiei on the roof today during lunch! He should try to stay out of sight! People might think he's a crazy suicidal midget out to destroy us all with an army of evil zombie space sheep of doom!!!!!!!!! Oh, and Yusuke didn't take over the school with a spoon!!!!" Autumn said this all very fast. 

Kurama sat there blinking. "umm..." 

"Sugar is good for the soul..." Autumn smiled. (A.N: Got that from Margaret!) 

Kurama was still blinking at Autumn. She was now humming the tune for _Kurayami ni akai bara ~Romantic Soldier. Greg walked over and pointed at Autumn accusingly. _

"You gave me detention today!"

"NOPE! The teacher gave you detention, baka!"

"Well, it was **_your_** fault!"

"Nuh-uh! It was **_yours_**!" Autumn was starting to recover from the momentary sugar rush.

"What did you get in trouble for?" Mr. Purdy said while looking for a supply.

"Supposedly I was starting trouble but I didn't do anything!"

"LIAR!!!! You called Yusuke a terrorist!!!! Yep, you said 'GO HOME TERRORIST!!!!!' really loud!" Autumn smiled.

"Terrorist?" Mr. Purdy looked at Greg with skeptically.

"I did not!"

"Are you saying that I'm lying? 'Cuz I don't lie...often..." Autumn was looking around with shifty eyes. 

"What's gotten into you today?" Kurama chuckled.

"SUGAR!!!!!! Yup! I did such a great impression of a squirrel during lunch today that Yusuke and Kuwabara pooled their money and bought me candy!!!!!" Autumn's smile widened. "Yusuke threw a preppy girl's books in the garbage! It was sooooooo funny! Oh, and Kuwabara crashed into a wall!"

"See? That Yusuke kid's the troublemaker! Not me!" Greg said.

Just then there was a knock on the door. Mr. Purdy answered it and in came Yusuke. He was whistling.

"YUSUKE!!!! WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT YOU!!!!!! THANX FOR NOT HOLDING US ALL HOSTAGE AND DEMANDING CHEDDAR CHEESE!!!!!!!" Autumn yelled happily. 

"The candy?" Yusuke asked Kurama.

"Yes. Please don't give her candy ever again."

"Moose!"

"Whaddya want?" Mr. Purdy asked from the doorway. 

Yusuke blinked. "Oh, I came to give this to Autumn, she dropped it during lunch." He held out Autumn's rose decorated notebook.

"MINE!!!!!" Autumn got up and grabbed it. She then hissed at Yusuke.

Everyone in the classroom blinked at her. She blinked and looked around before pointing accusingly at Yusuke, "I told you this would happen if you gave me the candy!!!! I told you!!!!"

Yusuke looked around the room. "Hey, it's the shrimp that called me a terrorist during art. Hi shrimp!"

Greg grumbled and turned away. Autumn looked at the notebook and then narrowed her eyes at Yusuke, "Wait...How'd I drop this if it was **_inside my backpack!?!_"**

Yusuke laughed nervously, "Uhh... well...I have to get back to class bye!"

"Yusuke!!! BAKA KISAMA!!!!!!! GET BACK HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!" Autumn yelled as Yusuke quickly ran out of the room.

Kurama was laughing.  Autumn sat down, "He better not have read anything..."

"This is Yusuke we're talking about." Kurama pointed out.

"Baka kisama..."

"Is that your favorite insult?"

"Yup! So, how was your day?"

Once school was over Kurama followed Autumn to her locker. Yusuke and Kuwabara were already waiting there.

"What is this? Party at my locker?"

"We were waiting for Kurama." Kuwabara said making sure to stay away from Autumn. He had a large bump on his head. Kurama pointed at it, "What happened to you?"

"Your girlfriend hit me with her shoe."

"Nuh-uh, I hit you with Kelly's shoe."

          "...why?"

Autumn shrugged, "The aardvarks were nesting in his hair."

"Aardvarks?"

"Sugar."

          "Ah."

          "Hey! Why don't you guys come over my house today? I'm not in the mood to be home alone, and my mom wants to meet my boyfriend." Autumn beamed with pride as she said that word.

"Alright." Kurama smiled.

          "Sure." Yusuke shrugged.

"Are there going to be any shoes?" Kuwabara asked fearfully.

"...that's not even worth answering..."

"I'm coming too!" a voice said from behind them.

"Meh? Oh, hi Arielle! Sure, one more target for me to throw snow at!"

"You do, you die!" Arielle said.

          "Let's go. I'm sure Hiei is tired of sitting on the school roof in the snow." Autumn said closing her locker.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    
    [1] saa samishisa ni kawaita tamashii yo 
    
    saa tatta ima yuuki wo sakase
    
    (Oh soul, dried up by loneliness, 
    
    right now, let courage bloom!)
    
    maru de kurai daichi ni saku
    
    akai bara no you ni sa
    
    (Just like a red rose
    
    blooming in the dark earth)
    
    daremo ga jibun to tatakau soldier
    
    kurushimi fumikoe ashita wo sagasu
    
    Soldier of love
    
    (Everyone is a soldier, fighting with themselves.
    
    Overcoming suffering, looking for tomorrow
    
    Soldier of love)
    
    aa nemurazu ni nayanda yoake ni
    
    aa umareta yo atarashii jibun
    
    (Out of the sleepless, worried dawn,
    
    a new me has been born.)
    
    kurayami kara noboru asahi
    
    ore no mune ni hirogaru
    
    (The morning sun rising out of the darkness
    
    unfolds [spreads out/blossoms] in my heart.)
    
    anata wo mamotte tatakau soldier
    
    ai koso kiseki wo umidasu chikara
    
    Soldier of love
    
    (I'm a soldier fighting to protect you.
    
    Love is the power to give birth to miracles.
    
    Soldier of love)
    
    daremo ga jibun to tatakau soldier
    
    kurushimi norikoe ashita wo tsukame
    
    (Everyone is a soldier, fighting with themselves.
    
    Overcome suffering and grasp tomorrow.)
    
    anata wo mamotte tatakau soldier
    
    ai koso kiseki wo umidasu chikara
    
    I'm a soldier
    
    (I'm a soldier fighting to protect you.
    
    Love is the power to give birth to miracles.
    
    I'm a soldier)

This is the song that was playing. It's sung by Kurama (Megumi Oogata). Email me if you want more info about the song, such as where you can find it in order to listen to it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Well maybe I lied about the whole melancholy mood thing…

Falcon: That was a really long chapter…

Freckles: You could've made it two chapters…

Dream: Naw, I wanted to make my readers happy. Y'hear that readers? I wuv you peoplez!!!!!!!!!

Chuchu: I wuv cantaloupe.

Falcon: I just remembered that I'm afraid of all of you…

Dream, Freckles, & Chuchu: o.O;;;


	3. Throwing snow

Dream: HOWDY Y'ALL!!!!! 

Falcon: *cowering in corner* I don't want to be here anymore…

Chuchu: what wong with Feathers?

Freckles: Do you have some sort of problem that prevents you from saying people's names right?

Dream: I'M ON A SUGAR HIGH!!!!!!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RADIOACTIVE SQUIRRELS WILL EAT YOUR SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Falcon: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT MY SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *cowers*

Freckles: …Falcon…you don't wear shoes…

Falcon: o.o;;; oh… ok then…

Chuchu: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RADIOACTIVE SQUIRRELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *runs in frantic circles screaming*

Dream: *cackles insanely* Now! Let's see what random stuff pops out of my head today!!!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Let's go. I'm sure Hiei is tired of sitting on the school roof in the snow." Autumn said closing her locker.

After getting off the bus the small group was walking to Autumn's house. Autumn had thrown snow at Yusuke. Yusuke had thrown snow back. Arielle got hit instead and she started chasing both of them and throwing snow. They all stopped suddenly and started whispering. They then grabbed balls of ice and wrapped snow around it. Then they threw them at Kuwabara. While Kuwabara was getting pelted with snow Hiei showed up.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kuwabara was whining. 

Hiei smirked, "Having fun, baka?"

"NO!!!!!" 

Arielle handed a ball of ice to Hiei, "Would you like a shot?"

Hiei smiled evilly and threw the ball at Kuwabara. Kuwabara got knocked unconscious. 

Autumn poked him with her foot, "So…who's gonna carry him to my house?"

Arielle pointed at Yusuke. He sighed, "Fine."

Once they reached Autumn's back yard a small whine was heard from the bushes. Autumn called over, "I thought you were gone for good. O well, come on in."

A yip was heard and a red blur shot out of the bushes. It stopped at Autumn's feet and looked up at her with it's pale blue eyes. It was a large crimson furred fox. He had black stripes on his ears, feet, and tails. He had a total of eight tails.

"What the hell?" Arielle pointed at the fox.

"You guys remember Dariken, right?" Autumn indicated the fox. He yipped a greeting.

Kuwabara started to come around. He opened his eyes and saw… "HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS THAT???????"

Dariken growled at him. There was a brief light and Dariken was in his humanoid form. His ears were back in anger. "BAKA NINGEN!!!!! HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A FOX BEFORE?????????!!!!!??????????"

Kuwabara blinked, "…I'm confused..."

Kurama pointed at the bush, "What were you doing in Autumn's bush?"

"Waiting for her to get home."

Autumn looked around, "Aren't you people cold? Let's go inside already!"

They went inside and Autumn got them all Hot Chocolate and coffee for Arielle. Once they sat down Dariken looked around, "You guys have a new mission?"

Yusuke nodded, "Yeah, we have to find your sister. An anonymous tip said we'd find her in this town."

Dariken nearly choked on his hot chocolate, "WHAT?!?" 

"Aren't you happy that we'll be finding your sister for you?" Kuwabara asked.

"Forgive me for not jumping for joy, but this is somewhat of a suicide mission. If Phantom doesn't want to be found she'll kill you."

"She can't! She'll be sent to Reikai prison!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"…I'm sure she'll find a way out. Kurama's not the only fox that can pick locks." 

Kurama chuckled and glanced at Autumn. She was smiling slyly. Hiei, who was leaning against the wall, arched an eyebrow when he saw this. 

"Why are you looking for her, anyway?" Autumn asked curiously.

"All Koenma told us is that the four surviving Mist Mountain Kitsune are in danger and we have to find Phantom and warn her. We were also supposed to try and find Dariken. Koenma has the other two under close surveillance." Kurama said.

Dariken scoffed, "Like that'll do any good."

Freckles came hopping in from the other room and started smelling the people in the kitchen. He finally stopped at Hiei's leg and grabbed it with his two front paws. He started humping it.

Hiei blinked down at the furball on his leg. The others were laughing at him. Autumn pulled Freckles away and Arielle put herself between the rabbit and Hiei. "MY HIEI! MINE!!!!"

Autumn blinked, "Umm….Arielle? I think you've had too much coffee…"

"NO! Coffee good! Happy coffee!" Arielle held her coffee closer.

Autumn sighed, "Well at least you haven't started clinging to Hiei…"

Hiei let out a sigh of relief. Arielle finished her coffee and held the cup out to Autumn, "More coffee now, slave."

"I'm not a slave!"

"Yes you are. Coffee now!"

"You've had enough…"

Arielle glared at Autumn, "I WANT COFFEE!!!!!!"

Autumn glanced around to find something else that might interest her. She held up a CD player, "Wanna listen to music instead?"

"COFFEE!"

Autumn then held up a cookie, "Cookie?"

"COFFEE!"

Autumn held up a small box, "Matches?"

"CO—MATCHES!!!!!!" Arielle snatched the box away from Autumn and began laughing evilly.

"…oh shit…" Autumn dove under the table.

Arielle pointed at Kuwabara, "I'M GONNA SET YOU ON FIRE!!!!!!!!"

Hiei pictured Kuwabara running in frantic circles while slowly burning to death. He smirked, "I'd like to see that…"

"NO!!!!! NO SETTING KUWABARA ON FIRE IN MY HOUSE!!!!" Autumn came out from under the table and pointed at the door, "That's what the backyard is for."

Arielle laughed evilly again and grabbed Kuwabara. She pushed him outside and looked back, "Hiei, want to help burn Kuwabara?"

"Yes, yes I do." Hiei followed after.

There was a momentary silence which was shattered by a scream, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! IT BURNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH GOD IT BURNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! THE PAIN!!!!!!!!! THE **_PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_**"

Autumn, Kurama, Yusuke, and Dariken sweat dropped. Autumn turned to Yusuke, "Soooooooo….have you found out anything about Phantom yet?"

"Nope." Yusuke sighed.

"We don't know where to start looking…" Kurama explained. 

"MY FLESH IS BURNING!!!!!!!!!!!! I SMELL IT!!!!!!!!!! WHY WON'T ANYONE HELP ME???????????????? THE PAIN!!!!!!! IT HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kuwabara's scream was heard from outside followed by maniacal laughter.

"…I wonder how long it will take him to realize that if he rolls in the snow it'll put out the fire…" Autumn said.

"Snow will put out the fire???" Yusuke asked surprised.

Autumn, Kurama, and Dariken looked at him like this: o.O;;;

Botan popped out of nowhere, "Hello, everyone!"

"Hi Botan!" Autumn smiled and held out the cookie from before, "Cookie?"

"What kind is it?"

"I don't know, I found it in my fridge."

Botan had already taken a bite. Her eyes bugged out when she heard this. She immediately ran to the bathroom and started spitting out the cookie.

"WHY MUST I DIE THIS WAY????????? I HAVEN'T EVEN SLEPT WITH MY YUKINA YET!!!!!!!!!!!!" There was an angry growl from outside and thuds were heard as Hiei started punching and kicking Kuwabara.

Botan walked back and pointed at the door, "What's going on?"

"Hiei and Arielle are burning Kuwabara to death." Autumn shrugged.

"WHAT??? WE NEED HIM!!!!" Botan ran outside and started screaming at Hiei and Arielle. Moments later they all came in mumbling things.

Arielle sat back down and pouted at her empty coffee cup. Hiei was leaning against the wall again. Kuwabara was lying down on the floor. He, unfortunately, had escaped getting really burnt on visible areas. His face was still its normal picture of ugliness. He looked like he was going to pass out.

Botan sat down, "Well, I came because Koenma has a clue for you." Botan took out a piece of paper and handed it to Yusuke. 

He looked at it and frowned, "I can't read this! It's written in a strange language!"

Kurama took the paper. He arched his eyebrows at Yusuke and rotated the paper. Yusuke sweat dropped, "Oh, I knew that!"

Kurama sighed and read the paper, "It says: 'Where there is light, there must be dark. Look in the eye of storms.'"

Yusuke and Kuwabara blinked. Hiei looked thoughtful. Autumn was panicking on the inside and trying hard not to show it. Arielle was trying to get more drops of coffee out of her cup and Dariken was petting Freckles. 

"So…what does it mean?" Yusuke looked around at the others.

"It means that Phantom Harmony is a person that we wouldn't expect because instead of being dark in personality she'll be perky and happy." Hiei said. Autumn's eyes widened in fear but she quickly regained control of her expressions. Not quick enough, because Hiei noticed. 

Kurama was also worried. He was trying to think of a way to keep the others from figuring it out. Yusuke looked at Hiei, "What about the storm part?"

Hiei decided against making the accusation that he was thinking about. Instead he said simply, "You've got a brain, however small it may be. Use it."

"Gee, thanks Hiei. You're so helpful." Yusuke rolled his eyes.

Hiei scoffed and turned away. Kurama and Autumn sighed. Dariken was off in his own little world thinking about ice cream and other sweets.

Botan had also been observing the reactions of the group. She smiled, "Well, good luck! I have to get back to work!"

Botan disappeared, leaving the group to discuss the riddle's meaning. She reappeared in Koenma's office. "You might be right, Koenma sir. She seemed to get nervous when Kurama read the riddle."

Koenma smiled, "I knew there was something familiar about her."

"Should I confront her about it?"

"No. Let's wait and see what happens first."

Meanwhile, Kuwabara had passed out. Yusuke was arguing with Kurama about the riddle's meaning. Arielle was begging Hiei to give her his sword.

"Please? I just want to kill Kuwabara!"

"No!  No killing people in my house!" Autumn handed Arielle a permanent marker.

Arielle smiled and started drawing random things on Kuwabara's face. Autumn turned her attention to Yusuke and Kurama.

"The storm thing must mean that there's a statue or something with stormy eyes!" Yusuke announced proudly.

"No! It is referring to an actual storm! You know, the eye of the storm?" Kurama argued.

"I think Kurama's right. That makes more sense then a statue with stormy eyes…" Autumn piped up.

"Yes, it does." Hiei walked over.

Kurama looked at Hiei curiously. Hiei looked at Kurama with no emotion in his eyes. Just then the door opened and Autumn's mom walked in. She looked around at everyone, "Oh, hello."

"Hi mom! Everybody, this is my mom. Mom this is Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, Darien, and Shuichi."

"So I finally get to meet Shuichi, huh?" Autumn's mom paused and arched an eyebrow at the group, "Let's see… Five teenage boys and two teenage girls…hope you had fun."

Autumn's eyes grew wide, "MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS SO WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE A MOM! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY STUFF LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Autumn's mom laughed and walked out of the room. Dariken arched an eyebrow, "Darien?"

"Dariken isn't exactly a normal name."

"So?"

"So, I like Darien better."

"Oh sure make me feel bad about my name…"

Autumn stuck her tongue out at Dariken.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Oh, by the way…Arielle started a new fic. It's called Lioness and it's good. It takes place after my fic, The Season of the Crystal Feather. Read it! OR ELSE!!!!!!

Freckles: okay, calm down…

Dream: I AM CALM!!!! WHY? DO I LOOK LIKE I'M NOT CALM??? BECAUSE I AM! I AM! …I DIDN'T EAT THE MARSHMALLOW PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Freckles: o.O;;; Marshmallow people???

Dream: *hisses* HOW'D YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THEM???????????

Freckles: You just told me…

Dream: LIIIIIEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *twitches uncontrollably*


	4. The next riddle

Falcon: *still cowering in fear*

Dream: *walks in* ok, Falcon. You can go home if you want to.

Falcon: YAY!!!!! *flies away*

Chuchu: no moa feathers?

Freckles: u.u;;; her name was Falcon.

Dream: I've brought a replacement! ^_^ *holds out another finch* Everybody meet Muppet!

Muppet: *looks around* Whoa! This is like, totally tubular!

Freckles: o.O;;;

Chuchu: HI MUPPET!!!!!

Dream & Freckles: OMG!!!!!!!! SHE SAID HIS NAME RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muppet: Radical.

Chuchu: ^_^ monkeys

Dream: NUH-UH!!!!!! Aardvarks!

Muppet: Gnarly.

Freckles: STOP TALKING LIKE A SURFER DUDE!!!!!!!!!!

Muppet: *sniffles* But I like talking this way…

Dream: ^_^ Purple Aardvarks are nesting in Felicia's hair!

Freckles, Chuchu, and Muppet: o.O

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          The rest of the week went by quickly. There were no more clues. The gang agreed to meet back at Autumn's house on Sunday afternoon.

          Kurama got there early. Dariken answered the door. "Oh, hi Kurama, you're early. My baby sister's still asleep."

          "At noon?" Kurama asked surprised.

          "Yeah, she woke up in the middle of the night panicking. She let me in and told me to wake her up if she looked like she was having a bad dream. She's been asleep ever since."

          "Did she tell you about the dream?"

          "She told me about her previous dreams. Are you going to come in or not?"

          "Oh, yes." Kurama walked inside.

          Half an hour later Autumn still hadn't woken up. Kurama and Dariken had been discussing different ways to keep the secret.

          "I think your friend Hiei might be suspicious."

          "Yes, Hiei is quick to figure things out."

          "Go wake her up. 15 hours of sleep is more than enough." Dariken said.

          Kurama got up and walked down the hall into Autumn's room. There was clutter in the corners of the room. Two cages were near the bed. One had two little birds in it. Kurama paused to look at the birds. One had a crest of feathers on his head, the other bared a striking resemblance to a falcon. The crested bird looked up at him curiously. 

          Freckles, in the other cage, was sitting by the door to his cage glaring at Autumn. Kurama smiled at Freckles and walked over to the bed. The bed had a pile of stuffed animals up against the wall. One of the toys stirred and Kurama realized that it was Chuchu. Autumn was sleeping soundly with her head rested on a large pillow in the shape of a great white shark.

          Kurama smiled as he watched her sleep. _She looks so peaceful… I hope she doesn't get mad at me for waking her up. _He reached out and gently shook her shoulders.

          "…mmm…muffins…" Autumn mumbled in her sleep.

          Kurama chuckled and shook her shoulders more roughly, "Autumn? It's time to wake up…"

          "Go 'way. I'm eating muffins…" Autumn was chewing on her blanket.

          "No, you're eating a blanket. Wake up."

          "Go bother Dari. He's not busy." Autumn was still half asleep.

          Kurama sighed and sat down on the bed. "Will you please just wake up?"

          "Muffins…"

          "I'll take that as a no." Kurama reached out and brushed some hair out of Autumn's face. He started running his hand through her hair.

         "…Kurama, what are you doing?" Autumn had one eye open and was looking at him curiously.

          He pulled his hand back and blushed slightly, "Umm…nothing…"

          "What are you doing here so early?"

          "It's 12:30 PM."

          "Oh…" Autumn reached over and opened the door to Freckles' cage. The rabbit jumped out and started humping a plush toy rabbit that was on the floor. She then sat up next to Kurama. She was wearing blue kitty pajama pants with a blue top.

          "Do you usually sleep this late?"

          "Only when Freckles decides to be patient."

          "Ah."

          Autumn stood up and stretched, "Well we should get to the kitchen before Dariken starts thinking we're doing more than talking."

          "Yes, I suppose we should."

          "What, in the name of pudding, were you two doing in there for so long?" Dariken asked when they walked into the kitchen.

          "I was dreaming about eating muffins. Kurama was playing with my hair." Autumn walked to the fridge to get herself some orange juice.

          Dariken arched an eyebrow at Kurama. Kurama blushed and laughed nervously. Dariken shook his head, "Kids."

          Autumn sat down at the table, "I'm too lazy to change outta my pajamas today."

          "You're too lazy to do anything!" Dariken yelled.

          "I know." Autumn smiled.

          "Well, at least you admit it. Now you'll be able to work on it and eventually correct the problem." Kurama said.

          Autumn blinked, "Naw, I'm too lazy to do that."

          The three chuckled. The doorbell rang. Autumn opened it to reveal Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Arielle. Arielle pointed at Autumn, "Why are you wearing pajamas?"

          "Because I'm lazy."

          After everyone was seated Botan appeared, "HI EVRYONE!!!!" Botan shouted happily. 

          "HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Chuchu hopped in.

          "I have good news!"

          "Can it wait until after breakfast? I'm hungry." Autumn said.

          "Breakfast? It's 12:40 PM!" Yusuke pointed at the microwave clock.

          "Kurama just woke me up like 4 minutes ago."

          "How'd Kurama get in the house?" Yusuke asked.

          Kuwabara jumped to a stupid conclusion, "KURAMA!!!!!! IT'S NOT RIGHT TO BREAK INTO PEOPLE'S HOUSES WHILE THEY'RE ASLEEP!!! ESPECIALLY IF IT'S A GIRL'S HOUSE!!!! YOU SICK PERVERT!!!!" Kurama's eye twitched as Kuwabara continued, "POOR AUTUMN!!! SHE'S SO YOUNG!!! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO **_THAT_** TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND KURAMA!!!!! NOT WHILE SHE'S ASLEEP!!!!"

          "KUWABARA, YOU IDIOT! WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT TO RAPE MY GIRLFRIEND???" 

          "YOU TELL ME!"

          "Ok, First of all, if Kurama had raped me, which he didn't, he wouldn't be sitting in my house right now. Second of all, he wouldn't have been able to because Freckles would've woken me up. Third of all, YOU HAVE A SICK AND TWISTED MIND, KUWABARA!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D EVEN THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!!! I FEEL BAD FOR POOR YUKINA!!!!! SOMEONE SHOULD TEACH HER HOW TO DEFEND HERSELF IF YOU EVER DECIDE TO TRY ANYTHING WITH HER!!!!!!!!!" Autumn panted after she finished yelling.

          Kuwabara blinked, Hiei was glaring at Kuwabara. Yusuke also blinked, "So how'd Kurama get in the house?"

          "I let him in." Dariken said.

          Yusuke's eyes grew large. So did Kuwabara's. "WHAT??? AUTUMN, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE CHEATING ON KURAMA!!!!!!!!!!" They both said at the same time before getting knocked unconscious by Autumn's history textbook.

          "Bakas…" Autumn grumbled as she sat back down.

          Kurama was still muttering things involving killer plants and Kuwabara's head. Dariken was zoned out again. Everyone else was staring blankly at them.

          Autumn smiled, "So… Botan, you said you said you had good news?"

          "Oh…yes! Koenma's received another clue!" Botan produced another piece of paper. She handed it to Kurama.

          He read it reluctantly, "This one says: 'The beginning is the end. New life springs from the ashes of the past. Return to the place where it all began and you shall find the answer. Look in the eye of storms.'"

          "What the hell is with that whole 'eye of storms' thing???" Yusuke said, having regained consciousness when Kurama started reading.

          "…I'm confused…" Kuwabara blinked.

          "You're always confused, baka!" Hiei and Arielle said at the same time.

          Yusuke blinked, "Wow, Hiei and Arielle would make a good couple…"

          Hiei scowled but didn't say anything. Arielle smiled. Botan blinked, "Shouldn't you be trying to figure out the riddle's meaning?"

          "It's too hard, my brain hurts!" Kuwabara whined.

          "You have a brain?" Autumn faked surprise.

          "Hiei, do you know what the riddle means?" Yusuke asked. Hiei didn't answer. Yusuke turned to Dariken, "Do you know what it means?...hello?"

          "I DIDN'T EAT THE PUDDING PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!" Dariken yelled after Autumn elbowed him hard in the ribs.

          Everyone sweat dropped. "Pudding people?" Autumn asked.

          "Well at least **_I _don't babble about aardvarks…" **

          "HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOCUS ON THE RIDDLE!!!!!!!!!!!" Yusuke yelled.

          "What riddle?" Dariken blinked absently.

          "The riddle you would've heard if you hadn't been daydreaming about pudding people." Autumn said.

          "Oh."

          "Maybe Thorn will be able to help you… I'll go get her!" Botan disappeared then reappeared seconds later with Thorn at her side. 

          Thorn looked around, "Hi everyone! …Kuwabaka, hwy do you have a rather large bump on your head?"

          "You don't want to know." Dariken said simply.

          "Okie dokie!" Thorn sat down happily next to Dariken. 

          "Thorn, can you figure out this riddle?" Yusuke gave the paper to her. "It's supposed to help us find Phantom Harmony."

          Thorn thought for a moment, "Maybe it means that you should look on the Mist Mountains for clues… That's sorta where it all began…" Dariken groaned slightly.

          "FIELD TRIP!!!!!!!!!" Arielle and Autumn said at the same time. Kurama arched an eyebrow at Autumn.

          "That's a good idea! Since this is your last week of school before Christmas vacation, you'll go on Friday afternoon." Koenma said.

          "AAHHHHH! WHEN THE CHEESEMONKEYS DID YOU GET HERE??????" Autumn nearly jumped out of her chair as she saw Koenma hovering near her shoulder.

          Koenma blinked at her, "You know, you're even cuter in pajamas."

          Autumn blinked. Kurama let out a low growl and put his arm around Autumn protectively. Koenma laughed nervously, "Just kidding! She's all yours, Kurama!"

          ~The next day: 4th period

"I didn't think it was possible, but I hate this school more than my own." Yusuke mumbled as he sat in art watching Autumn focusing on her midterm. 

"Stop complaining and get to work. Mr. Art teacher guy gave you an easy assignment."

Yusuke looked at his assignment. He was supposed to draw things that interest him inside of a circle on the paper. He couldn't think of anything to draw.

"Draw…Keiko! She interests you, right?" Autumn got an eraser thrown at her head.

"You're not helping!"

"So?"

"Draw your friends." 

"No." Yusuke sighed and eventually did just that.

At lunch, R and Autumn tortured Kuwabara. Yusuke received many cold glares from the preps, but he was used to that already. Autumn was actually sane when Kurama walked into the research class.

"Hi Shuichi!" Autumn smiled cheerily.

He sat down and grew serious, "What are we going to do about Friday? I think that Hiei's already more or less figured things out but…what about the others?"

"Well, if they do find any clues we can say some completely random meaning to throw them off track."

"I guess so…" Kurama and Autumn started discussing the trip on Friday.

Hiei was on the roof above classroom. He had been listening to the conversation. _So I was right…_

After school Kurama went over Autumn's house. Thorn and Dariken were waiting outside with Hiei. Thorn was wearing a lavender colored shirt with extremely long sleeves and a long black skirt with an image of a burning yin yang on the front. 

Autumn pointed at her, "How do you expect to be able to accomplish anything with sleeves that long?"

"…you know what, I have no idea…" Thorn looked at her sleeves.

Dariken laughed. He then grew serious, "Hiei here has some questions you might want to answer."

"Let me guess, you want to know if I'm Phantom Harmony?" 

"Yes." Hiei crossed his arms.

"Well, what makes you think that I'm her?"

"When I came up with the meaning of the first riddle you got worried. Kurama was worried too. You and Dariken act like siblings. Kurama looks at you every time someone mentions Phantom's name. There's a necklace in your kitchen that was stolen a long time ago by Youko Kurama." Hiei was counting on his fingers.

Everyone was looking at him with wide eyes. Autumn laughed nervously, "Wow, you're very observant…"

Kurama sighed, "I had a feeling you'd be the next to figure it out."

Dariken's eye twitched, "Wait a minute…that necklace was given to you by Youko Kurama??? YOU MET THAT SILVER HAIRED BASTARD AND HE GAVE YOU A NECKLACE????????? WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT?????????"

"Because I knew you'd act like this!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THIEF WAS FLIRTING WITH MY SISTER!!!!!!! HE'S GOT SOME NERVE!!!!!!! THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM I'M GONNA TEAR OUT HIS LIVER!!!!!!!"

"I'm right here you know…" Kurama pointed out.

Dariken blinked, "Oh yeah…"

Autumn threw a snowball at Dariken, "baka."

Dariken shook the snow off his head, "I still hate him…" 

"So throw snow at him. Just don't tear out his liver." Autumn threw another snowball.

Soon there was a snowball war going on between the five of them. Even Hiei was throwing snowballs at people. He didn't get hit once because he was running too fast.

Later they all settled down inside and started talking about random things. 

"So, why'd you disappear?" Dariken asked.

"I haven't told you before, why should I tell you now?" Autumn asked.

"Because."

"Because isn't a reason."

"Why did you disappear?" Kurama asked. 

Autumn smiled, "To get away from Koenma. He was getting on every single one of my nerves!"

"That's it?" Dariken blinked. "Why didn't you tell me???"

"I never tell you stuff. Besides that wasn't the whole reason. Koenma was forcing me to accept a mission where I'd have to track down Youko and kill him."

"You should've told me that. I would've done it for you." Dariken mumbled.

"May I ask why you hate me so much?"

"No, you may not."

"Answer him, Dari."

"Fine. I hate you because you give kitsune a bad name. Someone tried to pass my cousin off for you. Young demons are afraid of us."

"Not all young demons. My mother told me stories about Phantom and Youko. I learned that Phantom was good and Youko was bad." Thorn nodded.

"Aren't you an ex-thief, too?" Autumn arched an eyebrow.

Thorn laughed nervously, "Yeah, well, you know. Makai isn't exactly a place where you can live without breaking some rules…" 

"What's your cousin like?" Kurama asked.

"Viern (Vee-urn)? He's alright, I guess… when he's sober…which is rarely…" Autumn narrowed his eyes at Dariken, "Thanks to him."

"How was I supposed to know that Viern wouldn't handle alcohol very well?" Dariken defended himself.

"You just should've!" Autumn flicked Dariken's ear. 

Hiei was watching them with arched eyebrows. Kurama smiled, "See, Hiei, this is how siblings are supposed to act. They're supposed to argue about everything. This is how you and Yukina should act."

"Kurama…" Hiei said menacingly.

"Hiei has a sister?" Thorn blinked.

"Shh…you don't know that…" Autumn put her finger up to her lips.

Just then the phone rang. Autumn answered it, "Hello?"

"Oh, hi Margaret. Look, I'm kind of busy right now sooo…" Hiei stiffened.

"I have friends over."

"Kurama and some other people you wouldn't know."

"No, I did not hook you up with Hiei."

"No, I don't think Kurama wants to play matchmaker." Autumn was making the little talk sign with her hands.

"…I don't think that would be a good idea…"

"Why not? Because first of all, chaining a fire demon up in your basement is dangerous and second of all, Feeding him cat food is even more dangerous." Hiei blinked and looked at Kurama questioningly. Kurama shrugged.

"No…I don't think you can force Hiei to do your chores…Umm…yeah…heh…I have to go now…" Autumn hung up the phone.

"Sounds like that was an interesting conversation." Thorn said.

"That human scares me." Hiei said

"She scares a lot of people…" Autumn said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: I didn't do the disclaimer in the beginning but I own Viern, Thorn, Autumn, Dariken, and Freckles. Everybody else I do not own.

Freckles: Nobody's reviewing Arielle's fic cept you.

Dream: DAMN YOU PEOPLE!!!! REVIEW THE STORY!!!!!! IT'S GOOD!!!!!! Twitch

Muppet: You're not supposed to say twitch you're supposed to actually twitch.

Dream: So? Read Winter -iel -o burzum's stories!!!! NOW!!!!!!!! OR ELSE!!!!!!!!

Chuchu: ^_^ pudding.


	5. The completely random pizza party

Dream: BAMBI!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muppet: …well that was completely random…

Freckles: you'll get used to it.

Dream: *puts on a surfer outfit and gets a surfboard* Gnarly!

Muppet: ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT SURFBOARD IS LIKE TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream: Totally! ^_^

Muppet: So, let's like go surf or something?

Dream: Yeah! *runs off*

Muppet: ^_^ *follows*

Chuchu: yay!

Freckles: WAIT!!!!! NEITHER OF YOU KNOW HOW TO SURF!!!!!!!! YOU'LL DROWN!!!!!

Chuchu: yay!

Freckles: …no that's bad… 

Chuchu: oh…

Dream & Muppet: *come back with board bitten in half* 

Muppet: ;_; some mean old shark spoiled our fun…

Dream: FLUFF YOU, YOU FLUFFING FLUFFER! *shakes fist in general direction of shark*

Freckles: …

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          "HEY! I've got an idea! Let's all go eat at the pizza place thing!" Autumn said randomly to one of her friends on Tuesday morning. That afternoon, Autumn, Kelly, R, Teresa, Heather, Arielle, Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara met outside the school. 

          "Where's Mike? I haven't seen him all week." Yusuke looked around.

          "Probably smoking with his new 'friends.'" Teresa said.

          "He smokes?" Yusuke asked surprised.

          "Yup." Autumn's eye twitched a little as she thought of how Mike had lied to her about it.

          "So where's the pizzeria that we're going to?" Kurama asked to change the subject. He didn't like the hurt look in Autumn's eyes.

          "Not too far from here. There's one more person I want to wait for…" Autumn smiled as she saw the person, "HI BILLY!" 

          The boy that Autumn identified as Billy walked over, "Hilo…HEY! It's the guys from-" Autumn elbowed him. 

          "Everybody who doesn't know, this is Billy. Billy, these are the people who will remain nameless."

          "YAY! I'M NAMELESS!" R shouted.

          "RADIOACTIVE SQUIRRELS WILL EAT YOUR SHOES!!!!" Autumn yelled.

          "PIE IS MY PRIORITY!" R yelled.

          "THE EVIL MOOSE WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL!!!!" Autumn yelled between laughs.

          "I WANNA WORK IN A BOX FACTORY WHEN I GROW UP!" R was laughing too.

          "I WANNA LIVE IN A BOX WHEN I GROW UP!" Autumn was practically jumping up and down.

          "YAY!" Both girls yelled at the same time and started laughing insanely. They then started dancing crazily while still laughing.

          Everyone stared blankly. Yusuke sighed, "They're like this every day during lunch."

          "Will someone please shut them up?" A voice said from behind the group. It was Hiei.

          "HIEI!" Arielle said loudly.

          Autumn and R stopped laughing and stood there quietly. Yusuke fidgeted, "I don't know which is worse, them shouting like maniacs or them being quiet."

          Kurama snapped his fingers in Autumn's face. She blinked and smiled, "Ok, I just had to get that out of my system. I'll try to be sane from now on."

          "I don't think it's possible for you to be sane." Heather said.

          Autumn shook her head, "Not with all of you people around."

          "Hey, can I have an autograph?" Billy held out a pen and paper to Kurama.

          Kurama blinked, "an autograph…? Ok…" He took the paper and signed it.

"Hey, Terry, want to throw snow at cars?" Heather asked.

"Yeah!"

          Teresa and Heather ran off to throw snow at the cars. The others followed. Arielle sighed, "I wish I had those matches with me."

          "Pyro." Autumn laughed.

          "Yup. I'm Hiei's pyro." Arielle smiled. 

Hiei blinked, "What?"

          "Ignore her. Everyone else does." Autumn said before getting whacked in the head by Arielle.

          "You be quiet."

          Autumn rubbed her head, "I was kidding! Sheesh! How come I have such violent friends?" 

          "Because I love you." Teresa had come back and hugged Autumn.

          "Teresa, that's creepy. Stop it." Kelly said.

          "Kelly needs a hug!" Teresa walked over to Kelly.

          Kelly swatted Teresa away, "No! Stay back!"

          "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for all of us to be in one place at the same time…" Autumn said.

          "Are you afraid we're going to break something?" Billy asked.

          "No, I'm afraid you guys are going to scare Shuichi away." Autumn pointed at Kurama.

          "Hey, if he wasn't scared away by your little moment before he won't be scared away by us." Arielle said.

          A guy on a bicycle passed them by. Heather whispered something in Teresa's ear. Teresa started chasing the guy, "I LOVE YOU!!!!!!" The guy started peddling faster.

          Everyone was laughing except Hiei. R pointed at him, "This guy never laughs!"

          "I can make him laugh!" Arielle pushed Kuwabara into the road.

          He stood there blinking then screamed and started dodging cars. A plow truck was coming down the road. Kuwabara stupidly started running down the street in front of the truck instead of to the side of the street. He was screaming.

          Hiei burst out laughing and pointed at Kuwabara. Yusuke, Kurama, and Autumn stared at him like this: o.O.

          Arielle smirked, "I told you I could make him laugh."

          Kuwabara finally ran to the side of the street. He was panting. He then pointed accusingly at Arielle, "What the hell was that for?"

          "She's Arielle, she doesn't need a reason to hurt people." Autumn said.

          "That's right." Arielle nodded.

          "And I thought Terry was the violent one." Heather said.

          "I always thought Heather was the violent one…" Teresa said.

          "There is no violent **_one_!" Autumn said.**

          "No, I'm the violent one." Arielle turned to glare at Autumn.

          Autumn cowered, "Ok! Don't hurt me!"

          "Look! There's the pizza place!" Billy pointed.

          "FOOD!" R and Autumn yelled running ahead of the others.

          "Those two are like clones or something…It's creepy." Yusuke said.

          "Are you people coming or not?" Autumn called back to them.

          "We'll eat all the food if you don't hurry!" R added.

          "NO!!!!! FOOD!!!!!!!!" Teresa ran after them, "DON'T YOU DARE EAT MY FOOD!!!!!!!"

          "…this is the part where we RUN!" Autumn and R turned and started running away from Teresa.

          "They scare me. A lot." Kelly nodded.

          "They scare everyone." Yusuke said.

          Once inside the restaurant the group calmed down…sort of…

          "Nuh-uh! Radioactive squirrels are better than ninja care bears!" Autumn said to Kelly.

          "No, ninja care bears are better." Kelly replied (A.N: I actually had this conversation with her)

          "SQUIRRELS!"

          "CARE BEARS!"

          "AARDVARKS!"

          "…aardvarks?" Kelly asked.

          "PIE!" R cut in.

          "I DIDN'T STEAL THE STATUE OF LIBERTY!" Someone yelled from the door. (A.N: bum bum bum!) 

          "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Autumn pointed at the person and dove under her table. "I DIDN'T EAT THE MUFFINS!!!!!"

          "…calm down Autumn, it's only me." Margaret stepped out of the shadows.

          "Oh…" Autumn stood up. She then dove under the table again, "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T HURT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          "Umm…what's going on?" R blinked.

          "IT'S HIEI!" Margaret pointed at Hiei. 

          Arielle hadn't noticed this yet, she was too busy with the coffee that an unsuspecting pizza guy had given her. "Mmm…I love coffee…"

          "Oh shit…who gave Arielle coffee???" Autumn was still under the table.

          "Just as long as she doesn't have any matches…" Kuwabara shivered.

          "MATCHES??? WHERE???" Arielle looked around expectantly.

          "GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Hiei yelled as he moved farther away from Margaret.

          Arielle's eye twitched. "Back off! Hiei's mine!"

          "No! He's mine!"

          "MINE!"

          "MINE!"

          Autumn was still cowering under the table. Kurama knelt down to look at her, "Aren't you going to come out?"

          "NUH-UH! As long as they don't remember I'm here I'll be safe!"

          "Alright…" Kurama sighed.

          Autumn crawled out from under the table and stood up, "Something bothering you?"

          "It's nothing really…I'll tell you later."

          "OK!" Autumn's smile quickly disappeared as Margaret turned on her.

          "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME HIEI WAS IN NEW YORK??????"

          "Umm…I…forgot?" Autumn laughed nervously.

          Margaret narrowed her eyes then smiled, "Okie dokie, you really should do something about your memory problem!" 

          Autumn blinked, _Wow I can't believe she bought that!_

"Anyway, Hiei's mine!" Margaret yelled at Arielle.

          Autumn stood in between them to stop them from killing each other, "Hold on! Hiei's his own person! Before you start attacking each other you should ask him which of you he likes best!"

          Arielle and Margaret nodded and turned to Hiei expectantly. He blinked and looked back and forth between them, "Uhh…"

          "MARGARET! GET THE PIZZA AND LET'S GO!" Margaret's dad yelled from the door.

          "Damn…" Margaret mumbled as she left.

          Hiei sighed with relief. Arielle smiled smugly, "I guess this means I won."

         After a while longer of insanity everyone went their separate ways. Autumn, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei were the only ones left.

          "Well, see ya tomorrow guys!" Autumn gave Kurama a quick kiss on the cheek and started to walk away.

          "Wait! Let me walk you home!" Kurama said, catching up with her.

          "Kurama, you're **_not_ leaving me alone with these baka ningens!" Hiei said.**

          "Let's all walk Autumn home! That way we can make sure Kurama doesn't do anything perverted!" Kuwabara nodded.

          Kurama glared at Kuwabara. While they were walking Autumn spoke up, "Kurama, what was bothering you before?"

          "It's about this trip on Friday. It might not be a good idea for you to go… You don't know how to defend yourself." 

          "Is that all? Well, I'm going and there's absolutely nothing you can say or do to change my mind." Autumn waved a finger in his face.

          "Autumn! Don't be so brash!" Kurama said in an almost scolding tone. "We're going to Makai! You can't just go there without knowing how to defend yourself! You never know what could happen!"

          "You didn't complain last time!" Autumn pointed out.

          "That's because…because…" Kurama was trying to find the right words.

          "Because he didn't love you last time!" Yusuke said mockingly.

          Kurama glared at him and then turned back to Autumn, "Yusuke's correct. I didn't have such strong feelings for you last time. If something were to happen to you during this trip…I don't know what I'd do."

          "Get over it, and eventually get another girlfriend?" Autumn smirked.

          "NO! I wouldn't be able to get over it!" 

          "Sure you would! People come and people go, it's just another part of life."

          "Wow! Autumn's having a **_sane _**conversation with Kurama!" Yusuke blinked.

          "I'm confused…what's going on?" Kuwabara asked.

          Kurama was quiet. Autumn grabbed his hand and smiled at him, "I'll be fine, Kurama. Besides, if you're so worried about me not being able to defend myself, why don't you teach me?"

          Kurama smiled and held Autumn's hand tighter, "Why didn't I think of that?"

          "See you tomorrow, then?" Autumn said, they were already at her house.

          "Yes." Kurama said. He kissed her goodnight and then turned to leave.

          Autumn had a sudden thought, "Oh, Hiei."

          Hiei turned around, "What?"

          "Which one of them would you have chosen?" Autumn smirked as she saw Hiei blush slightly.

          "I wouldn't have chosen either of them!" He yelled to cover up his blush.

          "And here I thought you were an expert at hiding your emotions. Don't worry I won't tell her." Autumn winked before walking inside laughing.

          Kurama was smiling at Hiei. Hiei glared, "Baka kitsune…STOP SMILING!"

          "Hiei's in love." Yusuke laughed.

          "SHUT UP!" Hiei kicked a rock at Yusuke. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Wow, that was full of random shtuff!

Freckles: yeah.

Dream: Oh, btw here's a list of Japanese words I use: 

baka- idiot/stupid 

kitsune- fox

ningen- human

baka kisama! – stupid bastard!

Makai- demon world

Ningenkai- human world

Reikai- spirit world

Umm…yeah…tell me if there's any I missed…

Chuchu: CHEESE!

Freckles: …yeah…

Dream: well, plz review! Ok I luv u buh-bye!


	6. Learning about Phantom

Dream: *is all perky and hyper* YAY! R GAVE ME THE BEST XMAS PRESENT EVER!!!!!! 

Freckles: I'm afraid to ask what it is…

Dream: ^_^ CANDY!!!!!!!!! I GOT A WHOLE BOX OF WHOPPERS!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freckles: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVIL R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Dream: *grabs Freckles and starts dancing* CANDY IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL!!!!!!!!!

Freckles: BUT NOT GOOD FOR THE RABBIT!!!!!!!!!!!

Muppet: well they're having fun…

Chuchu: I want stowy!

Dream: OK!!! STORY IT IS!!!!!!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          The next day went by extremely slow for Autumn. She was bored out of her mind and it didn't help that she had two tests. She was doodling on all her papers. Finally 9th period came and soon it was after school.

          "You have to focus." Kurama was saying to Autumn. They were in the park.

          "How can I focus with you there **_without your shirt_**???" Autumn was just staring at him. It wasn't that cold and he had worked up a sweat so he had just thrown his shirt aside.

          Kurama blushed slightly. "Autumn…please just try to focus." He smirked, "I'll put my shirt back on if you don't."

          Autumn immediately stopped staring and started to concentrate on what he was saying. He first taught her punches, kicks, and dodging skills. After she had gotten pretty good at that they took a break. They were sitting under a tree looking up at the sky. It wasn't even five and it was already getting dark. Kurama had put his shirt back on, much to Autumn's dismay. 

          "Kurama?"

          "Hmm?"

          "Thanks." Autumn rested her head on his shoulder. 

He smiled and wrapped his arm around her. "No problem."

          "There you are, Kurama! We've been looking everywhere for you!" Yusuke said stepping out of the forest followed by Kuwabara, Hiei, Botan, and Koenma.

          "You two really do make a cute couple." Botan smiled at them.

          Kurama smiled and pulled Autumn closer. Autumn blushed slightly. Koenma cleared his throat, "Yes, well. We wanted to discuss the trip with you. I guess it's a good thing you're here Autumn."

          "So the Mist Mountain Kitsune were killed in a fire, right?" Yusuke asked Koenma.

          "Yes, that's what we believe." 

          "Seems pretty stupid to me. How could so many fox demons have died in a fire? Why didn't they run away?" Kuwabara said.

          "We don't know. The only ones who know are Phantom Harmony and (A.N: Name, name, must think of a name…) Ninikinaki (Ninny-kin-a-key). Neither of them will tell exactly what happened." Botan said.

          "So how'd they survive? Were they the only smart o…?"

Autumn cut Kuwabara off, "Shut up."

          "What?" Kuwabara blinked.

          "I'm sick of hearing your voice. Shut up!" Autumn's voice was cold.

          "Gee…you're in a bad mood today, Autumn." Yusuke said.

          "What do we need to discuss about the trip?" Kurama changed the subject quickly.

          "Well, we have to discuss who is going." Koenma said.

          "I want to know more about Phantom, if we're going to be looking for her than we should at least know who she is and stuff." Yusuke pointed out.

          "Well, what do you want to know about her?" Koenma asked.

          "Well, how old is she? What does she look like? How old was she when the fire happened? Why is she so famous? What was her family like? What's so special about her that we have to look for her anyway?" Yusuke was counting the questions on his fingers.

          "I believe she's 700 years old…" Koenma paused and looked at Autumn out of the corner of her eyes.

          Autumn stiffened, _He's providing wrong information on purpose. He's trying to get me to reveal my true identity… 'play along. It'll be fun.' _ "She would be 818 years old right now."

          "How do you know?" Yusuke asked Autumn.

          Autumn smiled innocently, "I have my sources."  
          "Oh, really?" Yusuke arched an eyebrow.

          Koenma blinked at Autumn, _She fell for my trap? But…_

          Autumn smiled again, she knew a way to tease them without openly admitting her secret. "To answer you're other questions: Phantom was about Kurama's height. She had dark brown hair and stormy blue eyes. She had two black fox ears and a black fox tail that always had a light blue ribbon tied to it. I've heard that the ribbon belonged to her sister, Melody. In her full fox form Phantom would have eight tails.

          "When the fire happened Phantom was just about 100 years old, still young by kitsune standards. In the fire her mother and sister died. Her sister was her non-identical twin. Melody was older by a few minutes. Phantom's brother, Dariken, decided to call her 'baby sister' because of that. She was famous because of the fact that she had…been persuaded that it was in her best interest to become a spirit detective. She earned a reputation as 'The Black Angel' because her preferred weapon was a feather and because she hardly ever killed her opponents. I would assume that you need to find her because Koenma said so." 

          Everyone blinked at her. She smiled, "I bribed Dariken with some candy."

          The others nodded as if they understood. Autumn laughed in her mind, _'their expressions are priceless!' was that too much information? 'I'd say that was perfect. Not too much, not too little.' o.O I'm answering my own questions…this isn't good… _

          Botan shook out of her shock and smiled, "Well! It seems that at least one of you did your research."

          Just as Autumn had hoped, Yusuke and Kuwabara had gotten completely lost during Autumn's description. Hiei and Kurama both seemed to be deep in thought over what she had told them.

          Koenma was confused, _Phantom would never have fallen for my trap…maybe I was wrong about Autumn…_

          "So, who's going to be going on the trip?" Kurama asked to break the silence.

          "You, Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara of course. Thorn and Dariken should go to. I suppose Arielle and Autumn might be able to go…" Botan began.

          "Might? I'm going! Whether you people like it or not!" Autumn said.

          "Botan will also be joining you. Jin and Touya said that they would help, if Yusuke felt it was necessary and…well I guess that Margaret girl might be able to help." Koenma said.

          Hiei's eyes grew wide, "Not her!"

          "If Jin goes then Margaret will cling to him. Especially with Arielle guarding Hiei." Autumn said.

          "Alright, then Jin and Touya will meet you at the mountains. Autumn, you can get in touch with Margaret and tell her what's happening. Once you guys get to the mountains you will be splitting into two groups. One group will investigate the mountain that Phantom was born on. The other will investigate the nearby village." Koenma continued.

          "Who's going to be in each group?" Yusuke asked.

          "Dariken will be the one leading the group in the Mist Mountains. Yusuke will be in that group. Hiei, I assume you will want to be in the same group as Kurama and away from Margaret and Kuwabara?" Hiei nodded. Koenma continued. "Then you and Kurama will go with Dariken. Autumn and Arielle will go with you. Everyone else will be in the other group."

          "Sounds good to me." Autumn said.

          Koenma was again surprised, _Phantom would've protested having to go back to her home…_

          "See you guys tomorrow!" Autumn got up and started walking away. Kurama followed. Hiei glanced around at who he was left with before quickly turning to catch up with them.

          "Why'd you say so much about Phantom?" Kurama asked once they were out of range of the others.

          "She told me to. Koenma gave wrong info about her on purpose as a test for me. He knew that I would figure out the test and keep quiet. By saying all that I confused him. He isn't sure that I'm Phantom anymore." 

          "Clever." Hiei commented.

          Autumn smiled, "You think it's clever? I thought I was going crazy!" 

          Kurama again thought about what Autumn had told the group. "What did you mean about Phantom being persuaded to be a spirit detective?"

          "She didn't know what she was saying yes to. She was young at the time and looking for Dariken. Koenma promised that he would help her find her brother if she agreed to run some simple 'errands' for him. Over the years the errands became spirit detective missions. She tried to get out of them but Koenma wouldn't let her."

          "Ah." Kurama said.

          "So she finally just ran away?" Hiei said.

          "Yep." Autumn hummed a tune that was stuck in her head. Kurama recognized it.

          "Are you humming _Kurayami ni akai bara?"_

          "Yes. I love that song! You sing very well." 

          Kurama blushed slightly, "You really like my singing?"

          Autumn nodded, "Can you sing it, please?"

          Kurama blinked, "I don't know…"

          Autumn gave him her best puppy dog face. Her eyes were wide and pleading, her lip quivered a little.

          "No, not the face!" Kurama sighed, "Alright…"

          As they walked Kurama sang. Eventually Autumn started singing with him. (A.N: I memorized the song, yay! ^_^) After that song was sung, Kurama and Hiei started singing _Wild Wind. _

          "Thanks for the show, you two!" Autumn waved as she went inside her house.

          Kurama and Hiei walked away thinking.

          "Are you sure she's Phantom Harmony?" Hiei asked.

          "Yes. Yes I am." Kurama smiled.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Hi people! I just thought you people might like more info about Phantom, so yeah!

Freckles: wow, you put up two chapters in one day!

Muppet: and she's going to start 7 too!

Dream: I'm on a roll! ^_^ oh and I guess I should've put this in the beginning but this is a key of what stuff means:

"What characters are saying"

'What characters say telepathically'

_What characters are thinking_

_'What Youko and Phantom say to Shuichi and Autumn'_

yeah that's about it.

Freckles: by the way, for all your anime lyrics needs visit Animelyrics.com!

Dream: *waves* bye people! 


	7. Yume

Strange narrator guy: *in a very serious voice* Due to an unfortunate accident involving a tractor, dreamchasereternity will not be able to tell the 7th chapter of 'Echoes in the Wind' today. Please tune in next time for… 

*loud thud*

SNG: HEY! SHUT UP BACK THERE! *blinks and continues in serious voice again* As I was saying…

???: HEY! What's Autumn doing tied up in a closet???

SNG: o.O;;; umm…

Dream: DARIKEN YOU BAKA KISAMA!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!!!!

Dariken (SNG): *in monotone voice* No one is available to take your call right now, please leave a message after the beep! BEEP!

Thorn (???): Dari, what are you doing?

Dariken: *sniffle* I wanted to tell the story today…

Dream: TOO BAD! That's my job! 

Dariken: ;_; 

Dream: …you can say the disclaimer…

Dariken: YAY! Dream does not own the cast of Yu Yu Hakusho! Though she wishes she did!

Dream: ^_^ I'd let Arielle burn Kuwabara and then lots of people would love her forever!

Thorn: Kurama would probably mad.

Kurama: *walks in* not after what Kuwabara said about me being a pervert.

Dream: *hugs Kurama* Dari locked me in a closet! It was dark and scary and…and…I couldn't breathe!

Kurama: DARIKEN! WHY'D YOU LOCK AUTUMN IN A CLOSET???

Freckles: Hey, umm, sorry to interrupt but the readers are getting impatient.

Dream: okie dokie! Thorn, would you like to announce the chapter?

Thorn: ^_^ sure! Everyone this is chapter 7: Yume(Dream)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~Autumn's dream:

The little black fox climbed up a tree and curled up into a ball on one of the branches. She knew the fire was getting closer and that it was stupid to hide in a tree but she didn't care. She closed her eyes tightly. She longed for her older brother's company. He said he would always protect her because she was his baby sister so why wasn't he there? Why didn't he pick her up and carry her away from this nightmare? Why couldn't she find the courage to get out of that tree and find her family??? She knew why…it was because she knew it was too late. Deep in her heart she knew…

          As the fire drew closer Phantom started to cough. The thick smoke in the air was making her feel faint. She stood shakily to move to a different tree and fell. She lay on the ground in a puddle of foul smelling liquid that she knew as blood. She was too weak and dizzy to move. She lay there waiting for the cold hands of death to come and take her away from her misery. As she lay thinking about how her family and friends had been so completely fooled by the demon that was, at that moment, going on a rampage through the forest making sure that he had gotten every single one of the foxes. She knew that he would then make his way to the other mountains and kill the rest of the Mist Mountain Kitsune.

          A sudden flame of anger surged through her. It was so unfair! They had never done anything wrong! Why had the demon targeted them out? She hated the demon for being unjust. She then targeted her anger to herself saying that she should have tried harder to warn them. She knew that he was going to do something bad, she knew! None of the elders had listened to her; they had told her that she was just a pup! That she didn't know what she was talking about! The stranger was so nice to them. He helped them build up the small village. He taught the youngsters of the outside world. It had been him that convinced her brother to leave. That was two years ago. Why now had the stranger decided to attack? 

          It suddenly hit Phantom. The elders had recently given the stranger a pendant allowing him free access to all the places guarded by kitsune magic. He would slaughter them and take the crystal. One thing still puzzled her, Why were all of the bodies she had found tailless? Their tails were symbols of their age and power…They were the center of the kitsune's energy…Was that it? Had the stranger found some way of stealing their spirits by cutting off their tails? If that was so then the stranger was more powerful than he should have been. 

          Phantom stood shakily. She shook the blood off of her fur and took off running towards her home. She tripped on something as she ran. She landed face first in the dirt. She looked back. She had tripped on the still form of a young fox about her own size. Phantom gasped, the other fox's cream colored fur was stained with blood and her beautiful cream colored tail gone, but there was no mistake. There on the ground at her feet lay her twin sister, Melody, dead.

~*~End dream sequence~*~

          Autumn woke up gasping. She rubbed her head. The dream was so real; she could still smell the blood and smoke. She took a moment to relax before lying back down. _How on Earth did Phantom survive so long without killing herself??? These memories are horrible! Autumn felt a wave of sadness from her inner spirit. _

          A soft whisper echoed around her room. For a moment Autumn thought it was just her mind playing tricks on her but she then caught three words that calmed her spirit immensely, "_Don't lose hope…"_ With that Autumn drifted back into the world of dreams, her thoughts only on the field of muffins before her.

          The next day Autumn wasn't as perky as usual. She could still hear the crackle of the fire from her dream, could still see the still form of the cream colored fox before her. Yusuke and Kuwabara decided to leave her alone because she had seemed so edgy the day before. Kurama, on the other hand, refused to leave her be until he found out what was bothering her.

          "Go away." Autumn mumbled. She had her head resting on her arms.

          "I will do no such thing. What is bothering you, my dove?" Kurama used the nickname in an attempt to soothe her.

          "I have a headache, go away." It wasn't completely a lie, she did have a headache.

          Kurama put his hand on her shoulder, "I know you're not telling me the whole truth." Autumn mumbled something under her breath that sounded like 'baka kitsune.'

          The teacher walked over, "You okay, kiddo?"

          "She has a headache." Kurama explained.

          "And doctor Shuichi is taking care of her?" Justin Rose smirked. He and Kurama had actually become somewhat friends. 

          "Everyone go bye-bye now. Autumn wants to go to sleep." Autumn said not moving.

          After Mr. Purdy and Justin had left, Kurama whispered to Autumn, "Did you have another dream?"

          Autumn was silent for a moment. "Yes." She sighed.

          "It'll be alright, Autumn." Kurama said soothingly.

          "No. It won't. These memories are horrible. I hate them more than I've ever hated anything. I know now why Phantom tried to block her memories from me…" Autumn's next comment was spoken so softly that Kurama could barely hear it, "I don't know how she was able to carry such a burden for so long without ending her own life."

          "Autumn…" 

          She cut him off with a forced smile, "I'm sorry. I'm making you depressed. We should talk about something else."

          Kurama looked at her with worry written clearly on his face, _what can I do to help her? ''This is something she'll have to learn to live with on her own. All you can do is listen when she is willing to speak and stay by her side when she is not.' You're right. 'Of course I am.'_

          "Tomorrow's the big trip." Autumn sighed. _I don't know what I'm going to do once we're at the mountain…It'll be torture remembering seeing the aftermath of what happened in my dream…_

          "Are you sure you want to go? It might be too dangerous."

          Kurama smiled as he saw that his comment did exactly what he had wished. "HEY! I thought I told you that I was going to go no matter what! I'm going!" Autumn yelled, her depression quickly forgotten.

          Kurama feigned a disappointed sigh. "If you must…"

          Autumn smiled. "Yes, I must." She said with the air of someone who has just own an argument.

          Autumn and Kurama talked happily for a while. Peter picked up a roll of duck tape and turned to Greg, "What would you do if I taped your mouth shut?"

          "You want to? I'll do it! Gimme the tape!" Greg reached out for the tape.

          "It was a hypothetical question…" 

          "I don't care. I'll do it." Greg took a piece of tape and put it over his mouth.

          Autumn and Kurama started laughing. Peter also laughed. Greg was walking around for a while with tape on his mouth. Soon Frank came over and Greg taped Frank's hands together. Frank was struggling to open his backpack. Greg went back to the tape and taped his legs together. Autumn, Kurama, and Peter were laughing hysterically now. Hiei, outside the window, arched an eyebrow at the human's stupidity.

          James, another 9th grader, offered to tape Greg's hands together. Greg nodded. Soon Greg had his hand taped together behind his back. He started hopping around the room until he fell over onto the floor and started moving around trying to find a way up. Autumn, Kurama, and Peter were in pain form all the laughing. Even Hiei was now laughing, though, of course, nobody knew.

          The teacher yelled, "Get him up off the floor and untie him!"

          James helped Greg up, but Greg didn't want to be untied. He started trying to hop away. Mr. Purdy yelled again, "Leave the tape on his mouth but take the rest off!" (A.N: this actually happened today…o.O)

          After the moment of entertainment Autumn was acting "normal" again. Kurama smiled and was grateful for Greg's stupidity.

          That afternoon Autumn contacted Margaret and told her the plans for the trip. Margaret agreed happily and started packing, which reminded Autumn that she still had to pack her own bag. She packed everything she knew she might need. This included extra clothes, her hair combs, etc. 

          By the time she settled down for bed, she was well prepared for the trip. Little did she know that no amount of packing or planning would prepare her for what was going to happen the next day…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chuchu: YAY! CLIFFIE!!!!! ^_^

Thorn: o.O you're not supposed to be happy about that…

Chuchu: …why not?

Dariken: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dream: *claps pots lids together next to Dariken's ears.

Dariken: O_O AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M AWAKE!!!!!!!! I'M AWAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream: ^_^

Thorn: Was that really necessary?

Dream: Yes, yes it was.


	8. The Field Trip

Dream: I think I'm having a sane moment…

Freckles: O_O YOU??? SANE???

Dream: yea…

Freckles: …ok! *gives begging face* Can I be in the story??? Pwease????

Chuchu: Me too! Me too!

Dream: OK! ^_^ I'll find a way to fit you in, Chuchu!

Freckles: What about me?

Dream: I was already planning to put you in this chapter…

Freckles: ^_^ yay! I feel important!

Muppet: *watching the lint in the air* Have you ever wondered who teaches the lint to dance?

Chuchu: I have! *also watches lint*

Freckles & Dream: o.O

Random story fan: START THE STORY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Dream: umm…okay… Chapter 8: The Field Trip.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          School passed by quickly. Soon everyone except for Jin, Touya, Margaret, and Botan were at Autumn's house. They were in the kitchen talking. Their bags were piled up in a corner of the room.

          "This is going to be great! I won't have to spend time with my family!" Arielle smiled.

          "Freckles is going to be mad at me…" Autumn was waving a candy cane back and forth in front of Chuchu's face.

          "So? He'll get over it!" Dariken snatched the candy cane out of Autumn's hand.

          "HEY! THAT'S MINE!" Chuchu yelled angrily.

          Dariken ate the candy cane and smiled, "Mm…candy…" 

          Thorn hit him on the head, "BAKA! You can't just go around stealing candy from people!" 

          "Yeah, it's not honorable to steal!" Kuwabara said.

          "Kuwabara, nobody cares about what you think! Be quiet and think about what a worthless waste of life you are! Oh wait, you can't think without a brain." Arielle yelled. Hiei grinned slightly.

          "Soooo….Arielle, what are you bringing on the trip?" Autumn glanced over at Arielle's backpack. 

          "COFFEE!" Arielle grinned.

          Autumn's eyes grew wide, "NO! NOT COFFEE!"

          Arielle started to laugh like a maniac. The others stared at her. Autumn smiled, "My friends are great." 

          Yusuke blinked at Autumn, "I wish we had never met you people…"

          "I'm happy that we met them." Kurama said.

          "Well, of course **_you're_** happy about meeting your dove." Yusuke smirked.

          Kurama's eyes grew wide and his cheeks reddened, "How'd you find out about that???" 

          Yusuke shrugged, "I read it in Autumn's diary thing. You should see the stuff she writes in there…"

          Autumn's eyes had flames in them, "YUSUKE!!!!!!!!!!! HOW DARE YOU READ MY PERSONAL INSANE EVERYDAY THOUGHTS?!? I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She started throwing textbooks at him. One hit his head and he held his head in pain. Autumn walked over and started strangling him.

          "Hey, I thought you said no killing people in your house!" Arielle said.

          Botan and Koenma appeared and stared blankly at Autumn strangling Yusuke. Kurama was trying to get Autumn to stop. 

          Koenma cleared his throat, "Are all of you ready to go?"

          Autumn immediately let go of Yusuke, "Oh hello there!" 

          Yusuke rubbed his neck, "Damn! That hurt! …bitch…" Yusuke mumbled that last part so that nobody would hear.

          Kurama hit Yusuke on the head, "Autumn is not a bitch, Yusuke!" 

          "No, but she will be! All she needs is a little more training…" Arielle smiled.

          Koenma's eye twitched, "ARE YOU READY TO GO OR NOT???"

          Everyone blinked at him. "Yes, we're ready." Kurama said. Everyone went over and got their stuff.

          Soon they found themselves at the foot of the mountain where Phantom and Dariken were born. Jin was standing there with Margaret clinging to his arm. Touya was blinking at them.

          Autumn's eyes widened as she looked up at the mountain in awe. She then looked around at the other mountains. There were five mountains total. All the mountains were flat topped, as if they had once been volcanoes long ago. Four of them were arranged in a circle around the fifth. The fifth was the tallest. There were flower petals of different colors floating down from its top. There was a forest at the base of the mountains. It was full of tall trees. A path was leading from where they stood around to each of the mountains. 

          "Wow." Autumn hadn't been prepared for this, even if she had been there before…sort of…

          "HI AUTUMN!!!" Margaret yelled.

          Autumn completely ignored the fact that Margaret existed. She was lost in thoughts. Seeing the mountains like this had stirred up more memories. These were somewhat pleasant memories though. From when Phantom had been really young.

          Margaret stopped and waved her hand in front of Autumn's face. "Hello?"

          Autumn's mind was lost to reality…

~*~What Autumn's seeing:

          Three young fox kits were running around at the base of the mountain. The oldest, a crimson furred fox, was being tackled by the two smaller foxes. One of the smaller foxes had cream colored fur and there was a large light blue ribbon around her neck. The other had jet black fur. They were all yipping happily. Soon another kit ran up to them. He had very light blue fur and was about the same age as the crimson fox. They were all laughing happily until a dark shadow fell over them… The demon smiled, "Will you take me to see your elders?"

~*~

          "Autumn? Autumn!" Kurama caught Autumn as she suddenly fell unconscious. 

          "What's wrong with her?" Arielle asked, worried about her friend.

          Kurama held Autumn close, "She's alright, she just fainted…"

          "Why?" Touya asked walking over.

          "We should take a detour to the house where Phantom used to live; it's not to far from here…" Dariken pointed off into the forest. 

          Kurama nodded and picked Autumn up. After a while of walking they reached a rather large traditional Japanese house house. It had beautiful gardens in front of it and was very well kept. Kurama looked at the gardens. Bushes of roses, red and white, caught his eyes. _'Aww…she remembered me…' _

          Margaret blinked, "Wow, this place is really nice."

         An elderly demon woman walked around from the back of the house carrying a bucket of water. On her shoulder was perched a small orange bird. The bird chirped and flew over to Dariken. The woman looked over and blinked at them.

          "Kin I elp you wi something?" The woman asked.

          "Who are you and what are you doing in my sister's house?" Dariken blinked while absently petting the bird's head.

          "Ah, so you're Phantom's broder…" The woman put down her bucket. "Mi name is Darla. You're sista let me move in hea since I don't got nowheres else to go."

          Dariken blinked, "My sister never tells me anything…"

          The woman spotted Autumn in Kurama's arms, "Oi, what appened to da lass thea?"

          "She fainted…May we come in?" Kurama asked.

          "O course! O course!" The woman opened the door and led them into the living room area. The inside of the house was like a mix of different cultures. There was a large comfy looking couch in the room. Kurama gently put Autumn down on the couch and sat in a chair nearby. Dariken walked out of the room and came back a moment later with a bowl of water and a rag. The others made themselves comfortable in other parts of the room. 

          "Wow, this place is huge!" Arielle commented, "Phantom really had it made."

          "Aye, but she din't stay hea often. She was usually travelin bout. Said she ated dis place cause it reminded her too much of her boss." The woman brought out refreshments for everyone. The orange bird had taken up a perch on the back of Kurama's chair. 

          "So why'd she keep it?" Yusuke asked.

          "She told me dat she was waitin ta see if dis guy would come back to her. Said is name was Youko."

Everyone who hadn't already known blinked and turned to Kurama. He rubbed the back of his head.

          Margaret pointed, "Youko and Phantom were in love???"

          Dariken's ear twitched in annoyance. The elderly demon nodded, "Aye, dat dey were. E came a lookin for her afta she disappeared. I told im she was gone. E left afore I could give im the note she left."

          Yusuke pointed at Kurama, "Well, give it to him now."

          "…I…uh…I misplaced it…" Darla (A.N: I just realized that I gave her a name before…o.O) looked at the ground.

          Autumn groaned and opened her eyes. Kurama helped her sit up and she looked around, "Where are we…?"

          "Phantom Harmony's house." Botan said.

          Autumn opened her eyes wide in shock, "Why?"

          "Because you fainted." Touya said accusingly.

          Autumn blinked, _…I__ can't believe it! I had a memory thing while I was wide awake! And I fainted because of it!_

          "Are you alright? How are you feeling?" Kurama asked worriedly.

          "I'm fine…" Autumn rubbed her forehead. 

          The little orange bird chirped and tilted her head to the side. Thorn pointed at the bird, "Darla, is this your pet?"

          "No, this is Jouka, my sister's loyal companion. Phantom would take Jouka around so that she would always have weapons handy if need be." Dariken mused.

          "Jouka?" Margaret asked.

          "It means 'sacred fire' in Japanese." Dariken said.

          "Koenma sir, are you alright?" Botan asked Koenma.

          "I can't believe it! Phantom chose that loser thief over me!" Koenma yelled.

          Everyone sweat dropped. Margaret piped up, "Yeah, didn't she know Youko's a slut?" 

          "HE IS NOT!" Kurama yelled.

          Koenma pouted, "Well, I guess you guys should get going…"  
          The group split and went off to their assigned destinations after much grumbling from Margaret about having Hiei taken from her. While they were walking Kurama kept a close watch on Autumn. She seemed tired and distant. 

          Dariken was leading the group. Yusuke was behind him. Arielle was walking next to Hiei. In the back were Autumn and Kurama.

          "What happened?" Kurama broke the silence that had fallen between them.

          "I had a memory…then everything went black."

          "You scared me…" 

          "Sorry…"

          Kurama grabbed her hand and held it tightly. Neither of them said a word for the rest of the trip. Once they got to the mountain Dariken led them around back. There was a cave there with some of those glow stones lining the way.

          "Now what?" Yusuke asked.

          "Now we walk up to the top." Dariken went first. First they had to climb up a spiral staircase. Next they had to pass through a hallway that spiraled up the inside of the mountain. Then more stairs. Then more hallway until finally they reached two doors made of black crystal. There was an image of a forest of cherry blossom trees in bloom painted on the door. 

          "Finally!" Yusuke panted.

          Dariken swung open the doors and there before them stood what appeared to be hundreds of burnt trees. They stepped out into the large crater. The ground was covered in ancient ashes. Here and there some small plants were growing but, for the most part, there was nothing alive there. 

          "Wow, this is depressing…" Yusuke said.

          Dariken sighed and looked around, "You're telling me." He pointed off to the left. "I think my home used to be over there…"

          Autumn shivered as she looked around, the place reminded her too much of her dreams. She moved closer to Kurama. Hiei was walking around. He turned and started walking towards the lake in the far left corner of the crater. The others followed. By the lake there were more plants growing. Even some flowers were alive and in bloom. Yusuke picked something up off the ground. He examined it closely.

          "What is it?" Arielle asked as Yusuke continued to examine the whitish thing.

          "It's part of a skull." Hiei said emotionlessly.

          Yusuke immediately dropped it. Autumn looked away from it. Kurama sighed, "Perhaps this was a bad idea…"

          Arielle had been walking near one of the burnt trees when she saw something metallic. She brushed the ash off of it and picked it up. It was an ancient looking dagger. The blade was rusty.

          "That looks…familiar…" Dariken furrowed his brow in concentration. 

          Autumn tilted her head to the side. She also thought that it looked familiar. 

          Suddenly an all too familiar wicked laugh rang out in through the air…

~*~Meanwhile:

          Botan was leading Jin, Margaret, Touya, Thorn, and Kuwabara through the streets of a small village. They passed by demons trying to sell things. Most of the demons they passed glared at them. 

          "Friendly place, isn't it?" Jin asked.

          "The only reason we're getting glared at is because we have humans in our group…" Touya crossed his arms.

          "I wish Hiei were here…" Margaret sighed.

          Jin felt himself get a bit jealous, "Hiei this Hiei that! What's so great about Hiei, anyway??? WHAT ABOUT ME???????"

          "Jin feels neglected." Thorn said.

          "Poor Jin!" Margaret began clinging to his arm again.

          "What are we supposed to be looking for?" Kuwabara asked.

          "Information on Phantom Harmony!" Botan said cheerily.  
          "OH LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!" Thorn pointed at one of the stores. The demon was selling clothes.

          Botan followed Thorn into the store and they both started going around picking out clothes. Margaret, Kuwabara, Jin, and Touya stood blinking outside. Margaret soon went in to join them and the boys went to a weapons store. 

~*~Meanwhile (again):

          Autumn moved closer to Kurama as the wicked laughter continued.

          "Show Yourself!" Dariken yelled.

          "Very well." Nuala stepped out of the shadows. She was holding a sack that moved slightly.

          "NUALA???" Dariken growled at her and took a step forward.

          "Don't take another step!" Nuala hissed.

          "What are you going to do, hurt me?" Dariken mocked.

          "No, I'm going to hurt him." Nuala pulled a white and black ball of fluff out of the bag.

          Autumn's eyes widened in both shock and fear. "FRECKLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she yelled out.

          "Let the rabbit go…" Kurama narrowed his eyes.

          Nuala started laughing again, "I will do no such thing. Until I get what I want."

          "Which is?" Kurama was afraid to ask.

          "Her life." Nuala pointed at Autumn.

          Dariken growled, "What???"

          "You heard me. That girl ruined my plans and now I want revenge. I'll let the rabbit go if she agrees to let me kill her."

          "That's stupid! Only an idiot would be willing to give up their own life for a rabbit!" Yusuke yelled.

          "Then I suppose I'm an idiot." Autumn said as she took a step towards Nuala. Everyone looked at her with shocked expressions on their faces.

          Kurama grabbed her arm. "You can't be serious…I know you love that rabbit but…"

          Autumn tried to pull free from Kurama's grasp, "Let me go!"

          Kurama pulled Autumn into a hug, "I can't do that."

          A soft squeak was heard as Nuala twisted one of the rabbit's ears. Autumn turned her head to look, "Freckles!!!" There were tears in her eyes as she looked back at Kurama, "Kurama, please! I have to help Freckles!"

          Kurama closed his eyes so he wouldn't see her hurt expression, "I'm sorry…"

          "Well, fine then! If you don't care about the rabbit!" Nuala produced a strange looking vial and smiled, "I'll poison him."

          "NO!" Autumn yelled as Nuala forced the vial's contents down the rabbit's throat. 

          Nuala tossed the rabbit aside and he began to glow. She blinked, "What the hell is going on????"

          The light got too bright and everyone had to look away. Once the light cleared everyone looked back to where the rabbit used to be. Autumn kept her eyes closed.

          "Whoah! The rabbit exploded!" Yusuke exclaimed. "And in his place is a little boy with rabbit ears and a fluffy rabbit tail!"

          "No, you baka! That boy **_is _**the rabbit!" Hiei exclaimed.

          Autumn opened her eyes and looked. Sure enough there was a little rabbit boy sitting there looking around. He saw everyone staring at him, "What?"

          "Freckles?" Autumn asked shakily.

          "Yeah, momma?" 

          Autumn just pointed at him. He looked at his reflection in the lake. His eyes widened, "OH MY GOD! I'M HUMAN!!!!!!!! GROSS!!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!! I have meat teeth!!!!!!! All my glorious fur is gone!!!!!!!! This is terrible! I'm human! I feel like I'm gonna cry! I…I…I HAVE THUMBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Freckles was looking at his hands in amazement.

          "This is…odd…" Kurama said.

          "Very." Autumn agreed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: well?

Freckles: THUMBS!!!!!!

Chuchu: I want thumbs… I want hands!

Dream: hmm…I think I like that idea…

Muppet: Furby ^_^ *puts on a cheese costume*

Dream: wha?

Chuchu: *puts on a sombrero* ^_^ churro

Dream: o.O

Freckles: *puts on sunglasses* ^_^ thumbs

Dream: _ you three are creeping me out! *runs away*


	9. Dealing with bunny boy

Dream: I started writing this chap during school. OkageHime drew this adorable picture of Freckles in his humanoid form! It's SOOOOO CUTE!!!! O yeah and from now on R will be called OkageHime. 

Freckles: What's going to happen today?

Dream: We—oh! Look! A spider! The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout…!

Freckles: o.O you seriously have problems…

Dream: ^_^ I know! Isn't it great?

Freckles: …

Muppet: Well anyway, Dream owns the world of insanity in her head and nothing more!

Random Kurama fan girl: Eww! Spider! *squashes it with shoe*

Dream: Poor spider! T_T

RKFG: Get a life, loser!

Kurama: Autumn…? The ratings are in…there's a tie. The readers either want to see you maul someone, start the story, or both…

RKFG: *gets heart shaped eyes* IT'S KURAMA!!!!

Dream: *hisses* HE'S MINE! BACK OFF!

RKFG: Yeah right! Like Kurama would ever like some crazy, demented, freaky girl who talks to a stupid rabbit!

Dream: *growls and attacks RKFG* FRECKLES IS NOT STUPID!!!!!! AND I AM NOT DEMENTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RKFG: XP *is on the floor bruised and beaten*

Dream: ^_^ I feel better now. What were you saying about a maul, Kurama?

Kurama: *blinks* that should do nicely…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          "I…I…I HAVE THUMBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Freckles was looking at his hands in amazement.

          "This is…odd…" Kurama said.

          "Very." Autumn agreed.

          "LOOK EVERYBODY!!!! I HAVE THUMBS!!!!! **_THUMBS_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          "What the hell did you do???" Dariken asked Nuala.

          "DAMN IT ALL!!! I MUST HAVE GOTTEN MY VIALS MIXED UP!!! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE LABELED THEM!!!" Nuala yelled.

          Yusuke scratched his head, "…so…the rabbit didn't explode…?"

          "No." Hiei crossed his arms.

          "THUMBS!!! NOW I CAN FINALLY DESTROY THAT DECORATED TREE!!!!"

          "NO!! DON'T YOU DARE!!! IT TAKES FOREVER TO PUT THAT THING BACK UP!!" Autumn yelled.

          "But it's funny…" Freckles pouted.

          Autumn's eye twitched, "Why do you insist on annoying me?"

          Freckles walked over to Kurama, "Look! I can walk on two legs! And I can do this!" Freckles kicked Kurama in the ankle.

          Kurama moved away from Freckles, "What was that for?"

          "FRECKLES!!! Be nice!" Autumn yelled.

          "The rabbit lives with **_you_**. He doesn't know what nice is…" Yusuke said.

          Autumn glared at Yusuke. Freckles stuck his tongue out at Kurama, "Don't hug my mommy you psycho fox guy!"

          "What??? She's my girlfriend! I can hug her if I want to!" Kurama yelled.

          "Nuh-uh! She didn't want you to hug her!"

          "I didn't want her to die!!!"

          "So??? It's not right to hug people against their will!!! You can't go anywhere near her from now on! Shoo! Go away!" Freckles made shooing motions with his hands.

          "Don't tell me what to do!" Kurama yelled down at the rabbit boy.

          "…Kurama? Do you realize your arguing with a rabbit…?" Arielle blinked.

          "I CAN ARGUE WITH A RABBIT IF I WANT TO!!!" Kurama yelled.

          "BAKA KISAMA!! STOP YELLING!!!" Freckles yelled at him.

          "Freckles! Watch your language!" Autumn scolded.

          "Yes, mommy…"

          "Baka usagi… (A.N: usagi=rabbit)" Kurama grumbled.

          "Kurama! Don't call Freckles stupid!"

          "Sorry…" Kurama lowered his gaze to the ground.

          "DAMN VIALS!!! Ah, oh well… I'm just going to go away now…BUT I'LL BE BACK!!! I'LL GET YOU! AND YOUR LITTLE BUNNY TOO!!!!" Nuala cackled as she flew away on a broomstick with Wizard of Oz music playing in the background.

          Everyone stared: o.O

          "Wow…that was really incredibly screwed up…" Yusuke said.

          "HEY! IT'S HIEI! HI HIEI! YOU'RE LOTS COOLER THAN NASTY OLD KURAMA!" Freckles smiled up at Hiei, exposing his little fangs.

          "Hn." Hiei turned away from bunny boy.

          "Hey! Freckles is like a little demon now!" Arielle said pointing at the fangs. 

          "Freckles has always been a little demon at heart." Autumn nodded. She then blinked and grabbed Freckles, "Aww! He's got little freckles! Oh and look at the adorable little tail!"

          OkageHime appeared out of nowhere, "Hi everyone!"

          "Hi!!!" Autumn held Freckles out to OkageHime, "Lookie! Some strange witch lady turned my rabbit into a demon!"

          "Aww! He's adorable!" OkageHime ran over and they both started making a fuss over Freckles.

          Dariken rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I guess we should go find the others, eh?" It was already starting to get dark.

          "Yeah…" Yusuke agreed.

          "I'm hungry!" Freckles whined.

          "You're always hungry!" Autumn pointed out.

          "So…?" Freckles blinked.

          The group started walking back down the mountain. Dariken had decided to take the dagger with him.

          "My feet hurt!" Freckles whined. "I'm tired! I'm bored! I want to go home! I'm STILL hungry!"

          "Oh will you be quiet??? You're so annoying!" Kurama snapped at the rabbit.

          Everyone stared at him, "Kurama's angry…" Yusuke said pointing.

          Autumn sighed, "Kurama, please don't yell at Freckles…"

          Kurama noticed that she looked somewhat tired, "Are you feeling alright? You look pale…"

          Autumn smiled, "I'm fine…" _I don't want him to worry… 'Tell the others you want to rest. It won't do anyone good if you collapse and fall down the stairs' what, now I'm going to have to argue with **you**_ _too…? 'What's there to argue about?'_

Freckles pulled on Autumn's pant leg, "What's wrong?"

          "Nothing, I'm fine." 

          "You're a terrible liar, Autumn." Dariken said before picking her up and starting to carry her down the steps. 

          "My feet still hurt…" Freckles pouted. He looked up at Kurama with his big brown eyes pleading, "Kurama? Will you carry me…please?" 

          Kurama sighed "Alright…"

         Once they were all down the mountain it was dark. The only light was the light from the stars.

          "Pretty!" Autumn said before twirling in a circle once.

          "Autumn is happy." Yusuke said.

          "No shit, Sherlock!" Arielle narrowed her eyes.

          "Arielle! Don't curse in front of Freckles!" Autumn said.

          "It's quite alright. Freckles has been asleep for a while now." Kurama was holding the sleeping rabbit boy protectively. 

          Everyone smiled at Kurama except Hiei who didn't understand why they were smiling. Yusuke elbowed Kurama, "Practicing for when you and Autumn have kids of your own, eh?"

          Kurama and Autumn both blushed and kept quiet. Freckles snuggled closer to Kurama, "Yusuke's an idiot. I wonder when he'll realize that his fly's open…" he mumbled in his sleep. 

          Yusuke looked down, "Aw shit!" He then zipped up while everyone laughed at him.

          Freckles smiled, "Hiei keeps glancing at Arielle, I wonder if he likes her…" Hiei's eyes grew wide and he blushed slightly. Arielle smiled and the others laughed.

          Hiei growled and walked towards Kurama and Freckles. "Alright, rabbit! I know you're not sleeping!"

          Freckles had to fight back his laughter and still pretended to be asleep. Hiei growled again and unsheathed his katana. Kurama stepped away from Hiei, "Hiei! Surely you can't intend to kill Freckles for pointing out the obvious!"

          "Kurama! It isn't obvious because it isn't true!" Hiei pointed his sword at Kurama.

          "If it's not true then why are you blushing?" OkageHime asked causing more laughter to erupt from the group.

          "Hiei and Arielle sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Thorn's voice said as she and her group walked up to them.

          Hiei tuned to growl at Thorn. Margaret rushed over to Kurama, "Aww! Who's this?" she said, meaning Freckles. He opened his eyes and smiled.

          "Nuala showed up and tried to poison Freckles. She had mixed up her vials and he got changed into a rabbit demon." Dariken explained.

          Margaret blinked, "Autumn? Kurama's a fox demon."

          "And…?" Autumn blinked.

          "And you're letting a fox demon hold a rabbit demon!" 

          "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! HE'S GONNA EAT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Freckles yelled.

          "Kurama wouldn't do that!" Autumn put a hand on Kurama's shoulder.

          Kuwabara walked over and put a hand on Freckles' head, "Don't worry, little buddy! Kazuma Kuwabara is here to protect you!"

          "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! IT BURNS!!!!!! KEEP IT AWAY!!!!!!!!!! MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!" Freckles covered his eyes and looked away from Kuwabara.

          Kuwabara's eye twitched, "Why you little…!" 

          Kurama smiled down at Freckles, "Well, it seems as if you're very good at making people angry at you…"

          Freckles grinned, again revealing his little fangs, "I try my best."

          "Aww! The cute little fangs!" Margaret said pointing.

          Botan looked around, "Well, we should head back to Phantom's house for the night."

          "Kurama, you look ridiculous carrying that little runt." Touya said.

          "Runt??? **_RUNT??? _**I AM NOT A RUNT!!!" Freckles yelled.

          "AWW! HE LOOKS EVEN MORE ADORABLE WHEN HE'S ANGRY!!!!!" Autumn squealed. 

          "Come on children, let's go." Dariken rolled his eyes and started walking away. Thorn started walking next to him holding his hand.

          Freckles was picking twigs off of the trees they passed and throwing them at Touya. Touya's eye twitched, "Kurama, will you please keep that thing under control???"

          "Perhaps you should apologize for calling him a runt…?" Kurama suggested.

          Freckles threw another twig. This one got caught in Touya's hair. Touya grumbled and threw one of his ice shard things at Freckles. Freckles panicked and held his hands out to stop it. To everyone's amazement, a blast of snow shot from Freckles' hands and destroyed the shard.

          "What just happened…?" Margaret blinked.

          "It would appear that Freckles has gained use of his spirit energy…" Kurama was stunned and still holding Freckles.

          "Whoa… THIS IS SO COOL!!!" Freckles was looking at his hands in excitement.

          "My rabbit's happy." Autumn smiled.

          Touya blinked and then smiled, "Maybe I can teach the fur ball a few thins about using ice techniques."

          "Wow, really???" Freckles' eyes were shining brightly. "This is so great! I was watching the show with mom once and it was the episode with you and Kurama fighting and I think you should've won! Your ice attacks are so cool! Mom got angry at me when I started shouting insults at Kurama in the magic picture box."

          "Magic picture box…?" Yusuke asked.

          "Hey, rabbit, did you see any of my fights?" Kuwabara flexed a muscle.

          Freckles started laughing hysterically. "You got beat by a kid and his yoyos!!!!!"

          Kuwabara got angry, "Oh yeah, well like **_you_** could do better!"

          "I'm tired of hearing you talk." Freckles put his hand out and sent snow flying at Kuwabara. 

          Kuwabara blinked before screaming, "IT'S COLD!!!!!!!!!! IT'S REALLY FREAKING COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He started running in circles. Everyone was laughing at him. 

          "Mind telling me what's so funny???" Koenma said floating up to them.

          "Hiya, pacifier boy! Remember me?" Freckles smirked evilly.

          "**_PACIFIER BOY?????????_ YOU STUPID RABBIT DEMON! HOW DARE YOU CALL THE GREAT KOENMA 'PACIFIER BOY'???" Koenma yelled angrily.**

          Freckles stuck his tongue out at Koenma, "I'm a heck of a lot smarter than you he-who-plays-with-dolls!"

          "THEY AREN'T DOLLS!!!! THEY'RE ACTION FIGURES!!!!! …how'd you find out about that anyway…?"

          "Kurama told Autumn and she told me." Freckles was starting to get bored. _Talking to someone is no fun if I they aren't angry at me… "Only ****__babies play with dolls!"_

          "ACTION FIGURES!!!! AND I AM NOT A BABY YOU OVER GROWN DUST BUNNY!!!!!!"

          "Ouch, that hurts. C'mon, I'd expect someone as important as you to have some better insults than that! Or perhaps you're vocabulary is limited to what you read in picture books?"

          "WHY YOU!!! YOU'LL PAY FOR INSULTING ME LIKE THIS!!!!"

          "Oh? How would you like me to insult you, then? Maybe like this…" Freckles jumped out of Kurama's arms. "Oh look at me! I'm Koenma! I'm all high and mighty! You, rock! Obey me! Bow down to me! What? You're not bowing??? WHY AREN'T YOU BOWING DOWN TO MY GREATNESS???? I'm telling my daddy!!! Daddy!!!!!! The rock made fun of me!!!! Daddy!!!!" Freckles started running in circles. Everyone except Koenma was laughing. 

          Koenma was burning with anger he sunk to the ground and started chasing Freckles, "I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          Freckles was laughing and running. Koenma was having trouble keeping up, Freckles was a **_rabbit_ demon after all. The others were laughing as well. It was just so funny to see Koenma chasing Freckles. **

          Koenma finally gave up chasing Freckles and glared at everyone, "IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!! STOP LAUGHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          Freckles was smiling, "I love torturing people!"

          "I told you he was a demon at heart!" Autumn said.

          The group started walking again, everyone still laughing. Freckles was walking happily between Autumn and Kurama. They soon reached Phantom's house and went inside to discuss the day's events.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: This has been a great chapter!

Freckles: I'm a demon at heart! ^_^

Dream: That drawing is so great! THANK YOU OKAGEHIME!!!!!!!!!!!! MAY THE ALMIGHTY CHEESE GRANT YOU ETERNAL CHEESEYNESS!!!!!!!!!! ^_^

Freckles: o.O is eternal cheeseyness a good thing?

Dream: Yes! ^_^

Freckles: Oh, ok then…


	10. Tenka Hikage, Lord of the Kiri Mori rabb...

Dream: Hiya! Welcome to chapter 10 of Echoes in the Wind!

Freckles: Start the story already!

Dream: My, you're impatient today!

Freckles: STORY NOW OR ELSE!

Dream: sheesh! Fine, here's the story:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          It was getting late. Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Koenma, Thorn, and Dariken had been talking for hours about what to do next. Touya and Jin had decided to go outside and train. Margaret, Arielle, OkageHime, Botan, and Autumn had gone to sleep in the plentiful guestrooms. Freckles squirmed out of Autumn's arms and sat down on the edge of the bed.

          He smiled, _Ah! It feels so good to be up and about again on two legs! I had forgotten the joys of being demon! He looked back at Autumn who was fast asleep having one of her dreams. _Poor Autumn, but she really does have to remember everything. I wonder if I should reveal my true identity to her…__

Autumn whimpered softly and rolled over, "Melody…"

          Freckles' ear twitched, _Ah, Koenma and the others are talking in the living room. I'll go and taunt him some more. He deserves it after allowing me to be murdered like that! _(A.N: don't worry, it'll all make sense soon enough.)

          "This dagger…it seems so familiar to me…" Dariken was studying the dagger.

          "Maybe we can get Phantom to reveal herself by insulting her pride. Demons hate having their pride insulted. Right, Hiei?" Yusuke smirked.

          "That won't work, baka. Harmony may have pride, but she wouldn't be so hasty as to blow her cover in order to defend it!" Freckles stated matter-of-factly as he walked casually into the room and sat down on the couch next to Kurama. Jin and Touya came in and sat down. Both were exhausted.

          Koenma arched an eyebrow, "Oh and how do **_you_** know that?"

          "I know a lot of things about Harmony that you don't." Freckles replied arrogantly. 

          "Obviously you don't know as much as you think if you call her Harmony! She hated that name!"

          "She hated hearing it from people she didn't know or like. However, she allowed those that she trusted and respected to call her Harmony." Freckles was keeping his calm. _I shall tell them the truth as soon as someone asks…_

          "YOU'RE JUST A STUPID HOUSE PET! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY KNOW THESE THINGS???" Koenma was getting ticked.

          "Ah, but that's where you're wrong, Koenma! Actually I'm surprised you didn't realize sooner! I suppose that's to be expected from an idiot such as you."

          "Freckles…?" Kurama asked.

          "No. While I am in my true form you shall address me by my true name: Tenka Hikage, former lord of the Kiri Mori rabbit tribe! [1]"

          Everyone stared blankly at him. Koenma started laughing, "Yeah right! Nice try, rabbit!"

          "Stop laughing you imbecile! If I was just a rabbit, how would I have known about the Kiri Mori rabbit demons???"

          Koenma stopped and blinked at him, "No…TENKA???? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU??? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!!!"

          "I AM DEAD! After years of being a spirit I found a way to be reborn in the human world! I was reborn as a domestic rabbit! This is all your fault! They murdered me right in front of your eyes and you didn't do a damn thing to stop them!" Freckles…err…Tenka pointed at Koenma accusingly.

          "I didn't know…"

          "HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE KNOWN??? I WAS STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU WHEN THAT TREACHEROUS FIEND CAME UP AND STABBED ME IN THE BACK!!!!" 

          "I was busy eating."

          "EATING??? YOU WERE BUSY **_EATING_**??? IS FOOD ALL YOU EVER THINK ABOUT YOU LAZY SON OF A BITCH???" 

          "Freckles stop yelling, you're going to wake everyone up." Autumn yawned as she stood there in her kitty pajamas. She was holding a glass of water that she had just gotten and her eyes were half closed.

          "Of course. Good night, mother." Tenka said.

          "Good night, hairball." Autumn walked away.

          "…wait, if you're really Tenka why are you calling her mother…?" Koenma narrowed his eyes.

          "Because she's been taking care of me and treating me as a mother would her child. Therefore I now think of her as my mother."

         Touya scratched his head, "The Kiri Mori rabbit tribe, huh? They specialize in ice type attacks, right?"

          "Yes, we do. My power was always limited to things dealing with snow since I didn't feel it necessary to learn anything too lethal. Mostly because of the morals that I learned from a very special friend of mine."

          "You mean my sister." Dariken studied Tenka curiously.

          "Yes."

          "She always spoke fondly of you and would take any chance she could in order to go visit you." Dariken remembered.

          "I'm really confused, guys!" Kuwabara said.

          "Kuwabaka, you're always confused." Tenka rolled his eyes.

~*~Meanwhile Autumn is dreaming…again…:

          After recovering from the initial shock of seeing her sister lying dead at her feet, Phantom began to whimper uncontrollably. She had had a feeling that she was too late to save her sister but at least there had still been hope…Now…now all hope was gone… She could smell her mother's blood on Melody.

          Phantom lay down next to her sister's body. Her stormy blue eyes were free of all emotion. She didn't feel anything. There was a hole in her heart that was slowly but surely eating away at her soul. "_Harmony…don't lose hope…" _a voice whispered from the shadows.

          _That sounds like…Melody! Phantom looked to the body beside her. No, her sister was still dead. That left only one explanation: it had been Melody's spirit talking to her._

          This revelation caused the flame of hope to burn within her once again. Her sister was dead. She couldn't change that. She could, however, save the others from meeting the same fate. She took the bloodied ribbon off of her sister's body and slid it around her own neck. "This is for you, Mel; for you, mom, and all the others. I promise I'll stop that demon. You hear me, demon? I'll stop you from hurting anyone else!" Phantom called out to the fire in the ancient tongue of the foxes.

          With that said, Phantom took off in whatever direction her heart led her. She leapt over rocks, branches, and bodies as she ran. She dodged the creeping flames until, finally, her target was in sight. Her spirit energy burned as purple foxfire around her, fueled by her hatred of the demon beast before her. The demon stopped kicking the fox body before him and turned to face the source of that power.

          He was a dragon demon. He had large, silver, leathery wings and a long silver dragon tail. His red eyes showed no remorse for what he had done. His long black hair was tipped with gold and his clothes were dark and loose fitting. He held a bloodied dagger in his right hand and in his left was an amulet with an amethyst in the center. It was surrounded by a black aura that made Phantom shiver.

          The demon's face went from bored to amused as he saw the little black fox standing there like she would fight him. "Ah, Harmony! I was wondering what had become of you! I see you've discovered that you're dear sister is no longer among the living. Don't worry, you'll be joining her soon enough." He had learned to speak their language during the time he had spent there.

          "Monster! Why are you doing this?" 

          "It's simple really: Power. I want the power that you foxes have. I want that ultimate power and this will help me get it!" He held out the amulet. 

          Phantom arched an eyebrow, "What is it…?" 

          "This is an amulet mad of pure dark energy! All I have to do is cut the tails off of the kitsune while they're alive and touch the tails to this gem! Then the kistune's spirit and energy is trapped in here for all eternity! After I'm finished collecting the spirit of every single Mist Mountain Kitsune I'll take the crystal and then I will be the most powerful being alive!" 

          "You're mad! Well, no matter. You will never succeed! I won't let you!"

          "How cute! Do you really think you can succeed where so many of your elders have failed?" 

          "I do and I will succeed." Phantom's foxfire burned brighter as she readied herself for a fight.

          The demon laughed and vanished. Phantom was stunned. She then felt herself being lifted off of the ground by the scruff. She was turned to face the demon's arrogant smile, "Phantom Harmony…? Ironic, isn't it? This whole time that everyone thought that their lives were perfect and harmonious it was all just an illusion, a phantom of the true reality. You were the only one who saw through the illusion but it didn't do you any good, now did it? You're still going to die like the others…"

          Phantom's eyes widened in fear as he brought his dagger up to her right ear and slowly began to cut a piece out of it. She screamed in agony…

~*~Meanwhile in the living room…:

          "So you're really a reincarnated rabbit demon who was this mighty and powerful ruler of your people?" Yusuke was trying desperately to understand everything that Tenka had told them. 

          "Yep." Tenka popped another one of the cookies that Darla had made into his mouth.

          "And you were killed because…?" Yusuke asked.

          "Because the council of my people didn't like the idea of being ruled by someone who was cursed to forever remain physically a child."

          "How did you get cursed?" Thorn asked.

          "I did it myself, actually. I thought that if I remained a child I wouldn't have to take on the responsibilities left to me once my parents passed away. That didn't work so I ran away. I met Harmony and she convinced me to go back. By then it was too late to reverse the curse so I was just sort of stuck as a kid. It was kind of annoying having to look up at the person that I was giving orders to."

          "I know what you mean." Koenma said.

          "Yes, but unlike you **_I _**was respected by those that I was lord over. **_I _**was never openly insulted by my people."

          "The Kiri Mori rabbit tribe respected you as a kind and just leader. They were at peace with you as their lord." Kurama said.

          "I am still confused…" Kuwabara said.

          Before anyone could respond a scream was heard from one of the rooms. "That sounded like…Autumn!" Tenka jumped off of the table and ran down the hall followed closely by Kurama and everyone else behind.

          Tenka ran into Autumn's room and jumped on the bed, "Mother, are you alright?"

          Autumn was sitting up and had her face buried in her hands. She was sobbing. Kurama rushed into the room and sat down next to her, "Autumn? Autumn, it's alright, don't be afraid."

          She looked up at him. For a moment her vision was blurry, she couldn't tell if she was still on that mountain or back at the house. She felt Kurama's arms wrap around her and pull her close. "Kur…Kurama…?" she whispered.

          "Yes, I'm here." He said in a soothing voice. Everyone else had come into the room and Darla had lit the fire in the lamp. 

          "What happened?" Botan asked sleepily.

         "Autumn had a nightmare, that's all. You can all go back to what you were doing before. Go on. Shoo." Tenka motioned for everyone to leave. 

          Botan, Arielle, Margaret, and OkageHime went back to their rooms. Darla went to get another glass of water for Autumn. Jin and Touya went back out to the living room to talk. That left Hiei leaning against the wall watching Kurama soothe Autumn, who was crying. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Koenma were just standing there. Dariken and Thorn were asking what they could do to help. 

          "Autumn, you told me once that you don't get nightmares. Now all of a sudden, you do?" Thorn tilted her head to the side.

          "Please…I don't want to talk about it…" Autumn's voice was choked with sadness and barely audible.

          Yusuke whistled dramatically, "Whatever it was must've been really bad."

          "I thought I told all of you to leave. The only one's who should be in here right now are Autumn, Kurama, and myself. Now go." Tenka pointed at the door and they all returned to the living room. Kurama stayed with Autumn until she fell asleep again.

          Tenka smiled at Kurama, "I'm sorry if I annoyed you before. I suppose you really are a good person."

          Kurama smiled back, "It's quite alright. Come on, let's let her rest."

          "Yes." They both walked back into the living room. Kurama sank back down onto the couch and sighed. Tenka jumped up to sit next to him.

          "How is she?" Dariken asked.

          "Sleeping peacefully." Kurama closed his eyes and began to think.

          "You shouldn't worry too much about her. I'm sure she'll be fine, after all it was only a dream." Koenma said.

          "Perhaps, but according to the confused look on her face when I first got there I'd say that it was a very realistic dream." Kurama still had his eyes closed.

          "Among my people, those who had such dreams were called Blind Seers because they often found themselves unable to separate reality from their dreams." Tenka mused.

          "Ye should all try an git some sleep. Ye'll be needin the rest in orda ta find Phantom." Darla said as she cleared off the little coffee table.

          "Darla's right. Let's all get a good nights rest and we'll continue talking in the morning." Tenka hopped down from the couch and started walking away whistling. The others soon went to bed as well.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[1] Tenka Hikage is a character that I just made up today…err…yesterday... If it sounds like anyone else's character then that's just a coincidence. Tenka means snow and Hikage means shadow so put it together and you get… Snow Shadow! Yay! Also Kiri Mori translates to Mist Forest which I also made up. Kiri Mori is supposed to indicate the forest that surrounds the Mist Mountains so the Kiri Mori rabbit tribe is a group of rabbit demons living in that forest. Simple, ne? I might make a story involving Tenka after I'm done with this… 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Yawn, it's past midnight, I'm going to bed. 

Freckles: zzzzzzzzz

Dream: Well, I hope you people liked chap. 10. Please review. Flames welcome, I need to cook my marshmallows… *uses a stick to poke a bag of marshmallows*


	11. The third riddle

Dream: HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kurama: You're in a good mood today…

Dream: Today I get to see my friend that moved to California! I haven't seen her since…before I started writing my first fanfic!!! o.O

Thorn: Do you realize that you don't have any hot water???

Dream: YUP! ^_^ 

Muppet: who wants to do the Mexican hat dance with me?

Dream: ME!!!!!!! ME!!!!!!!!! PICK ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *runs over*

Muppet: ^_^ anyone else?

Dream: *runs back* Kurama? Want to do the Mexican hat dance with us?

Kurama: No, that's alright. I'll just watch.

Dream: *puppy dog face* Pwease?

Kurama: *sighs* Alright…

Dream: YAY! *drags Kurama over to the hats* 

Muppet: ^_^ let's dance! *puts on Christmas music* … *dances anyway*

Dream: *twitches* 

Kurama: Are you alright?

Dream: YAARGH!!!! FROSTY THE SNOWMAN IS EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!! EVIL I SAY!!!!!!!!!!! *attacks music*

Muppet: T_T my music…

Dream: *pulls the stuff out of the tape* grr…*starts eating it*

Kurama: o.O;;; Autumn…please stop that…

Dream: *blinks* OKIE DOKIE! *puts tape down and starts running around yelling* WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muppet: My human is great. ^_^

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          The next morning everyone gathered in the dining room for breakfast. They were all sitting at the large table and talking loudly. Tenka was bored so he started flinging food at Koenma. He hit Koenma with a hot syrupy pancake.

          Koenma stood up on his chair, "Damn it! What is your problem??? WHY ARE YOU FLINGING FOOD AT ME?????"

          Tenka shrugged, "Because your big head is the perfect target to fling food at."

          "WELL STOP IT YOU…" Koenma was cut off by another pancake hitting his head.

          Tenka smiled innocently as Koenma gave him a death glare. Autumn was zoned off thinking about her dream. Kurama was watching the rabbit, "Tenka, stop flinging food."

          "Don't tell me what to do flower boy!" 

          "It's what Autumn would've said to do." Kurama pointed to Autumn who was sitting between them.

          Tenka sat down again. He and Koenma were both sitting on books. Tenka looked at Autumn. She was poking at her toast with her fork and had her head resting on her left hand. "Mommy, you okay?"

          She kept poking her food. Kurama sighed and put his hand on her shoulder. She stabbed the toast and mumbled without looking up, "Go away, Kurama."

          "I didn't go away last time, what makes you think I'll go away now?"

          Autumn remained silent as she continued stabbing her toast. Thorn blinked at her, "You really should eat something."

          "I'm not hungry." Autumn's mind was full of the images from her dream. It had felt more real than the others. She had actually felt the pain caused by the demon's blade.

          "It was just a dream, get over it." Yusuke got an apple thrown at his head.

          "Be quiet, baka." Tenka had another apple to throw.

          Kuwabara blinked, "Hey guys, I had the weirdest dream last night."

          "Not as weird as mine." Autumn muttered under her breath.

          "What was it about, Kuwabara?" Botan asked.

          "Well, it was on that mountain we were looking at yesterday. There was a fire and dead foxes were lying around the place. There was a little black fox lying in a puddle of blood that was coming from a dead cream colored fox. The cream fox had a blue ribbon around its neck…" 

          Dariken let out a small whimper and his ears went back in pain, "…cream…colored…fox…?"

          Kuwabara nodded, "Yeah."

          Dariken hid his face in his hands, "My little sister Melody was a cream colored fox…"

          Autumn blinked, _why is Kuwabara having the dreams…? 'This is not good.'_

          "Was that all, Kuwabara?" Koenma asked.

          "Well there was one more thing that bothered me. The dead foxes didn't have tails. There were just bloody holes where tails should've been."

          Autumn pushed her food away and stood up, "I'm going to go outside." She then quickly walked outside and sat down near one of the white rose bushes. She hugged her knees and started to cry softly. _Damn Kuwabara! I was just starting to get over that part of my dream! Why'd he have to say it like **that**???_

A little orange bird flew down and sat next to her. Jouka chirped soothingly at Autumn. Kurama came out of the house and sat down on Autumn's other side. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She buried her head into his chest and started crying more. 

          "I don't get it…was it something I said…?" Kuwabara was blinking at the door that Autumn and Kurama had left through.

          "Yes, baka, it was something you said." Arielle said accusingly.

          Tenka threw an apple at Kuwabara, "You shouldn't be allowed to speak. You always mess something up."

          "Let's all throw stuff at Kuwabara and make him feel bad!" OkageHime suggested. Everyone agreed and soon Kuwabara was covered in food. Hiei was throwing spoons and forks at Kuwabara. Arielle threw a shoe. Margaret threw a cookie tray.

          Kuwabara was whimpering, "Guys! Stop being mean to me!"

          "This is very childish and immature. Everyone stop it!" Koenma yelled before getting an apple thrown at him.

          "Alright, which one of you threw that apple???" Koenma glared at everyone.

          "I did." Tenka smiled.

          "Tenka, you're really getting on my nerves!"

          "Aw, no I feel bad; bad rabbit." Tenka pretended to slap himself. (A.N: From the emperor's new groove)

          "I'll get you!" Koenma threw the apple back.

          Tenka watched the apple crash into the empty chair where Kurama had been sitting. "Come now. Surely you can aim better than that!"

          Soon there was a food war going on between Tenka and Koenma. The others soon joined in for the heck of it. Hiei walked out of the room and went outside to find Kurama.

          Autumn had stopped crying and was just sobbing a bit. Kurama was still hugging her close and the little bird was sitting nearby watching. Kurama had started to sing in order to calm Autumn down. Hiei arched an eyebrow, "Kurama, why are you singing?"

          "Hiei? Why aren't you inside?" Kurama looked up at Hiei.

          "The bakas are having a food fight."

          "Ah." Kurama closed his eyes and sighed. He hadn't slept much that night because he had been worried about Autumn.

          Hiei sat down nearby and looked at his friend, "You haven't been acting like yourself lately…"

          Kurama opened his eyes, "I haven't?"

          Autumn had stopped sobbing and was watching Kurama and Hiei talk. She smiled suddenly, "Hiei's worried about you, Kurama."

          Hiei scowled. Kurama smiled down at Autumn, "Feeling better now?"

          "Yes, thank you." 

          "You're very welcome."

          Autumn sighed, "Kurama, the Mist Mountain Kitsune weren't killed by the fire…"

          "That's obvious from what the baka said about their tails." Hiei crossed his arms.

          Kurama frowned at Hiei. Autumn pulled away from Kurama and glared at Hiei, "I suppose that is obvious. What's not obvious is that their tails were cut off while they were alive. They were left to bleed to death as their spirits were trapped inside of an amulet made of pure dark energy. That dagger that Arielle found on the mountain yesterday was the one used to cut off their tails. It also was used to cut that chip in Phantom's right ear…" Autumn's voice trailed off as she remembered that part of her dream and shivered.

          Kurama and Hiei were silent. Kurama finally spoke, "That's what your dream was about last night?"

          "Yes. It was so real. I could actually feel the dagger…That's why I screamed…"

          "There has to be a way to stop these dreams…" Kurama said.

          "There isn't. She has to remember everything about her past. If she doesn't she'll never be able to free the trapped souls of her family." Tenka said walking over.

          Autumn pointed at his head. There was a waffle on it. Syrup and other food items were all over him. "Food war got out of hand, Tenka?"

          Tenka rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, sort of…"

          "What do you mean Tenka? Trapped souls?" Kurama asked.

          "Yes. Harmony told me that the spirits of the Mist Mountain Kitsune are still trapped inside of that amulet. She had spent most of her life looking for it. I have a feeling that these dreams are becoming more frequent because the end of Harmony's quest is near. If you don't remember absolutely everything that happened to Harmony the two of you will remain separate and you'll never be able to destroy the amulet!" Tenka plopped down onto the ground.

          Autumn sighed, "What if I don't want to remember…?"

          "Then that's too bad because you're going to remember whether you like it or not."

          "I still find it hard to believe that the rabbit is really a reincarnated demon lord…" Hiei said.

          "Tenka, you really need a bath!" Autumn said.

          "But I don't wanna take a bath!" Tenka whined.

          "Why is this garden full of roses???" Yusuke yelled as he came outside.

          "It smells even more girly than Kurama's rose whip!" Kuwabara wrinkled up his nose in disgust.

          "Harmony planted these bushes here after she met Youko. She said they reminded her of him and she would always come out here to relax." Tenka said.

          "So then Youko was a girly flower boy, too?" Kuwabara asked.

          Kurama felt Youko's anger at that comment. Autumn felt Phantom's laughter, _'Youko's going to kill him…' _

          "Anyway, Koenma wants you guys to come back in." Yusuke said.

          "But I like it out here…" Autumn pouted.

          Kurama smiled and picked one of the white roses. He put it in Autumn's hair and stood up. "It must be something about the mission. We should go inside."

          "Yes, it would be just awful to keep the great and powerful Koenma waiting." Tenka rolled his eyes as he stood up. 

          They went back inside and found everyone cleaning up the mess. Koenma floated over and handed Tenka a sponge and bucket of soapy water, "Clean the floor, Tenka!"

          Tenka dumped the soapy water on Koenma, "There, I cleaned the floor."

          "You fluffy tailed bastard! I've had just about enough of your attitude!!!" 

          Tenka smiled evilly, "Oh? You haven't had enough yet? Well, okay then!" Tenka pulled the small rug that Koenma was standing on. Koenma went flying backwards and into another bucket of soapy water. 

          Koenma was trying desperately to get out of the bucket while everyone laughed. Botan walked over and helped him, "Are you alright, Koenma sir?"

          "DAMN YOU TENKA!!!!!! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!" Koenma yelled at Tenka.

          Tenka tilted his head to the side, "Will I?"

          "Tenka, stop torturing Koenma and help clean up this mess…" Autumn said.

          "Yes, momma…" Tenka picked up the sponge and started cleaning.

          "Hey shrimp, you have to clean too." Kuwabara pointed at Hiei.

          Kurama blinked, "Hiei? Hiei helped make this mess?"

          "He threw forks and spoons at me!" Kuwabara whined.

          Autumn started laughing, "That's so great!"

          Kurama held his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. Hiei was very pleased with himself. "It's not funny!" Kuwabara yelled.

          "Yes, it is." Autumn said.

          "Well, if all Hiei did was throw forks and spoons then he should only have to pick up the forks and spoons." Kurama said.

          After everything was clean the group settled into the living room to talk.

          "Wait…Freckles is a reincarnated demon???" Margaret asked.

          "What's so hard to understand about that?" Arielle narrowed her eyes.

          "Freckles is adorable." OkageHime said.

          Koenma blinked at her, "Wait…What are you doing here???"

          "I don't know…" 

          "You shouldn't be here! Botan take her home!"

          "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Autumn and OkageHime yelled at the same time.

          Botan took OkageHime back home. (A.N: Sorry, I need to get rid of a few characters…She'll be back for the party though!)

           Tenka pouted, "One less fan to make a fuss over me…"

          "You should go to the Kurama fan club headquarters and borrow one of his fans." Margaret said.

          "They have a headquarters???" Autumn asked.

          "Probably." Margaret shrugged.

          "Ok!" Autumn took out a piece of paper and a pen.

          "What's that?" Dariken asked.

          "My list of things to destroy. Let's see…School, Doctor's office, summer camp, that Kurama fan girl I met on the bus the other day…" Autumn started writing as she spoke, "Kurama fan club headquarters…"

          Tenka laughed, "Would you really destroy it?"

          "Yes. Kurama is mine!" Autumn put away her list. Kurama chuckled.

          "Autumn's feeling better." Yusuke said.

          "Oi, I jist found dis 'ere note outside." Darla handed the note to Koenma.

          Koenma quickly read it to himself. He smiled, "It's another riddle!" 

          "Great." Yusuke rolled his eyes.

          "Gimme that." Tenka ran over and snatched the riddle out of Koenma's hands.

          "Hey!" Koenma yelled.

          "It says: 'Follow the lucky rabbit's feet to where the rivers meet. There you'll find the answer that you seek. Look in the eye of storms.'" Tenka read.

          "Well, I'd say that it's pretty obvious what the luck rabbit's feet are…" Autumn picked Tenka up.

          "Me?" Tenka blinked.

          "Do you know what rivers it means?" Kurama asked.

          Tenka thought for a moment. "Yes. The city that my people live in was built in the middle of a lake. Four rivers drain into the lake: The Usagi River, The Ookami River, The Kitsune River, and the Kame River."

          "Why would rabbits want to live in the middle of a lake?" Yusuke asked.

          "…I don't know…" Tenka blinked.

          "We still have to find a way to change Tenka back into Freckles." Autumn said.

          "No! I don't want to go back! You'll just lock me in that cage again!"

          "So?"

          "I don't like being locked in a cage…"

          "Oh well!" Autumn smiled.

          "That's not very nice…" Tenka said.

          "Hello, this is the crazy aardvark girl we're talking about! She doesn't know the meaning of the word nice!" Yusuke yelled before getting a shoe thrown at him by Autumn.

          "You should all get going now." Koenma pointed at the door.

          Botan and Koenma stayed behind at the house when the others left. Tenka was in the lead walking backwards.

          Tenka looked around at the group as they walked. He sighed, "Great, now who am I supposed to torture…?"

          "How about not torturing anyone?" Yusuke asked.

          "Yusuke do you have any cotton?" Tenka asked.

          "No…"

          "Good." Tenka cleared his throat, "_I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves…"_

          Everyone groaned as Tenka started singing his songs.

~*~2 hours later:

          "_…12 bottles of beer on the wall! 12 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 11 bottles of beer on the wall!" _

          "LOOK! THE LAKE!" Autumn interrupted.

          "YAY!" Yusuke ran ahead of them and kneeled down to kiss the lake, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!"

          Autumn pushed Yusuke into the lake. He climbed out soaking wet and glared at her. She smiled, "I thought you might be thirsty."

          "Bitch…" 

          "Yusuke!" Kurama yelled.

          "C'mon children, let's get going. The bridge across to the city isn't too far from here." Tenka said pointing at the bridge.

          "Oh? **_You're_ calling **_us_** children??? Who was the one singing annoying songs for two hours???" Yusuke asked.**

          "Me." Tenka smiled proudly.

          Yusuke looked back and forth between Autumn and Tenka. "I hate both of you…" 

          "Aw, now you've hurt my feelings…" Autumn pouted.

          "Good."

          Dariken and the others had already started walking away. Autumn ran up to Kurama and started walking next to him. Once they reached the bridge they were stopped by two rabbit demons. Both were wearing golden armor and golden helmets. They had ears that stuck up. They blocked the bridge with their spears as the group drew near.

          "Identify yourselves." One guard said.

          Tenka piped up, "We are here on a mission from Koenma. Let us pass."

          The second guard caught his breath as he looked at Tenka, "L…Lord Tenka?"

          "Don't be silly! Lord Tenka has been dead for thirty years!" Tenka smiled.

          The guard was still tense. The first guard looked around the group then withdrew his spear. The second did the same. The bridge was long and made of white stone. Once the group was far enough far the guards Kuwabara turned to Tenka, "I'm confused...aren't you Tenka?"

          "Yes. If I had told them that they would've made a fuss over me. Remember that this city is now being run by the council that hired my assassin."

          "That hardly seems fair." Autumn crossed her arms.

          Tenka sighed and looked out at the shore of the lake. There were small houses lining it. He then turned his attention to the city ahead. It was built on a large circular disk that was supported by stone arches coming out of the water. The city itself looked like a fortress with the wall surrounding it. The wall had vines growing on it. The vines draped down into the lake and had light blue flowers growing from them. The tall white towers of a castle were visible above the wall.

          "Nice place. How'd a bunch of rabbits manage to build it?" Yusuke asked.

          "Our ancestors got help from the Mist Mountain Kitsune." 

          "Foxes and rabbits working together?" Margaret asked.

          "Why not?" Tenka tilted his head to the side.

          "Hey, do you think we'll be able to get some food at the city? I'm starved! I could really go for a nice hamburger right now!" Kuwabara licked his lips.

          "Meat is evil! SAVE THE BLACK FOOTED FERRET! BOYCOTT BEEF!" Autumn yelled.

          "Be quiet, vegematarium!" Kuwabara said.

          "That's VEGETARIAN, baka." Autumn pointed out.

          "Well whatever! I still want a hamburger!"

          "That's too bad, Kuwabara. My people are strictly vegetarian." Tenka said.

          "What??? Why???"

          _"_Because they're **_rabbit_ demons." Autumn said.**

          "Yeah, we have plenty of special vegetable dishes. Autumn, you'll like it." Tenka said.

          "Maybe I should start calling you my rabbit?" Kurama laughed.

          "My mom called me that once…" Autumn rolled her eyes.

          They were approaching the gates to the city. There were two guards in silver armor guarding the gates. Tenka turned to Autumn, "Do you have anything that has a hood? It might be wise for me to hide my looks…"

          Autumn pulled a neon green sweatshirt out of her bag. It had a picture of a cow on the front and it said 'Moo-cow don't eat us we are friendly animals.' She handed it to Tenka who put it on quickly and pulled up the hood. It was very big on him. "You are now officially part of my Boycott Beef campaign!" She smiled.

          The guards opened the gates and let the group pass into the busy main street of the city…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Another Random Kurama Fan Girl: Hi! Like, I've taken over here and given the place a make over!

*the room and everything in it is pink*

Freckles: It's gross. I hate it.

ARKFG: Too bad! *dresses Freckles up in pink*

Kurama: Umm…where's Autumn?

ARKFG: Autumn? Oh, you mean that crazy girl? I put her in a box and sent her to Alaska.

Kurama: YOU DID WHAT??? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HER???

ARKFG: Because you're mine!

Dream: *crashes through the wall riding a moose with an army of penguins around her* NO! He's mine!

ARKFG: What the???

Dream: ATTACK MY PENGUIN ARMY!!! ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARKFG: *is beaten up by penguins*

Kurama: o.O;;;

Dream: *hugs Kurama* I missed you!

Freckles: Hey! I'm still dressed up over here!

Dream: O well!


	12. The final dream

Dream: …for once I have nothing to say…

Kurama: OMG! IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!! 

Freckles: Take it easy Kurama; she's experiencing a lack of sugar.

Kurama: oh, in that case… *hands dream a jar of marshmallow fluff*

Freckles: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream: *anime heart shaped eyes* MARSHMALLOW FLUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LUV MARSHMALLOW FLUFF MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *hugs jar*

Kurama: …more than me?

Dream: *rubbing head on jar* you say something strange redheaded person whose name I can't seem to remember?

Kurama: T_T you do love that fluff more than me…

Dream: *off in her own little happy world with her fluff* ^_^

Freckles: Don't worry; it'll pass once she eats the fluff.

Dream: *horrified* NO! I MUST PROTECT MY FLUFF!

Dariken: *takes jar and eats the fluff* Mm…fluffiness…

Dream: T_T I wanted to eat that…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          The guards opened the gates and let the group pass into the busy main street of the city…

          "SHIMATTA!!!!!! IT'S FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Autumn yelled as they stepped inside the city.

          "Did you just say 'damn it' in Japanese?" Kurama asked.

          "Yep, I heard you say it to Shuuichi that time he rode his bicycle through your garden yelling 'destroy the plants of doom!'"

          "What else did he say?" Arielle asked.

          "Well…he said a lot of things but the other ones that I picked up were 'kutabare' which means fu…"

          Kurama put his hand over Autumn's mouth, "Don't say that!"

          "Kurama! And here we thought you were the nice one…" Yusuke shook his head.

          Autumn pulled away from Kurama, "And I learned 'che' and…"

          Kurama put his hand over her mouth again, "Ok, that's enough…"  
          "Stop doing that!!!!" Autumn said as she pulled Kurama's hand away again.

          The others were laughing. Autumn looked around, "No wonder it's freezing! All these buildings are made of ice!"

          The others looked around as well. The buildings all around them were made of ice and the road was made of the same kind of light colored crystal that the crystal feather was made of. The hole place shone in the sunlight.

          "Why doesn't it melt?" Margaret asked.

          "There's an ancient spell protecting this place that keeps the ice from melting." Tenka explained. He then started walking down the road in the direction of the castle. As they approached it he turned down a side street on the left.

          "Aren't we going to go to the castle?" Yusuke asked.

          "Yes, but we're going to visit an old friend of mine first. You need to look nice in order to get an audience with the rulers." Tenka replied.

          "What do you mean 'look nice'?" Autumn narrowed her eyes.

          "I mean nicer clothes for the guys and dresses for the girls."

          "DRESSES?!? NUH-UH! NO WAY! I AM **_NOT _**WEARING A DRESS!!!" Autumn yelled. Margaret and Arielle nodded agreement.

          "Why not? You'd look nice in a dress." Thorn said.

          "I don't care how I'd look! Dresses are EVIL!" Autumn replied.

          "How about a skirt, then?" Tenka asked.

          "Why can't we just go like this???" Arielle asked.

          "Just wear the dress, how bad could it possibly be?" Kurama put his hand on Autumn's shoulder.

          Autumn glared at him, "Have **_you_** ever worn a dress? No? Then keep out of this!"

          "I was just saying…"

          "KUTABARE!!!" Autumn yelled.

          "I'm sure you'd like to…" Yusuke smirked before getting whacked in the head with a bucket that Autumn had found on the ground.

          "We're here!" Tenka said as he stood in front of a large two story house. The bottom half was a clothes store. He walked in followed by the others. Yusuke was rubbing his head and muttering curses at Autumn. Tenka pulled down his hood and looked around, "Hello?"

          A tall demon with floppy brown rabbit ears and light blue hair stepped out from the back room. He was wearing a male style kimono that was similar to Tenka's only black. (A.N: I fergot to mention it b4, Tenka's wearing a light blue one and Japanese sandals) "Hello! Welcome to…" The demon stopped when he saw Tenka.

          "Hiya, Hyoushou! (He-yo-show-u) Remember me?" Tenka smiled.

          "T…T…TENKA??? But…you're dead! I saw your body getting burned as a sacrifice to the ancestors!"

          "THEY DID **_WHAT _WITH MY BODY???" Tenka yelled.**

          Hyoushou blinked, "They said that you had been killed because you were a corrupt ruler and then they burned your body to beg for the forgiveness of the ancestors…"

          "I can't believe it!!!! First they hire an assassin to kill me and then they openly insult me in front of everyone by burning my body!!!" Tenka yelled.

          "So…if you're dead…how and why are you here?" Hyoushou studied the rest of the group curiously.

          "Oh, well I was reborn as a domestic rabbit in Ningenkai. Eventually wound up living with this psycho over here…" Tenka pointed his thumb at Autumn, she waved. "…over the summer we got involved in one of the Reikai Tantei's missions. Now, they're on another mission and I got dragged here by a witch who tried to kill me and accidentally changed me back into a demon."

          Hyoushou whistled, "Sounds fun. If you want to get an audience with the new rulers you'll have to get these people to dress nicely."

          "Here we go again with the dress nicely crap!" Autumn crossed her arms.

          A female rabbit demon with white hair and white ears popped up out of nowhere next to Autumn. The demon was taller than Autumn by a bit and was wearing a female style orange kimono. Her brown eyes studied Autumn curiously, "You don't seem to be a proper lady…A proper lady wouldn't say that!"

          "I don't give a damn about being a proper lady!" Autumn said as she tried to get over the shock of having the demon just appear out of nowhere.

          The demon shook her head and pulled on one of Autumn's sweatshirt sleeves, "What in the world are you wearing? This is most definitely not a proper garment for a lady to wear!"

          "Hello? Are you deaf? What did I just say?" Autumn pulled her arm away from the rabbit demon.

          The demon walked around her in a circle. "Hmm…If you weren't wearing that you would probably be a pretty human… (A.N: just going by what one of my friends told me, I don't think I'm pretty)"

          "That's too bad; I like what I'm wearing."

          "I've got just the thing for you!" The demon smiled.

          "You weren't listening to a thing that I said, were you?" Autumn's eye twitched.

          The demon then moved on to inspect the other girls. Arielle gave the demon a death glare when it was her turn to be inspected. Once the demon was finished she smiled brightly at Margaret, Autumn, and Arielle, "You three aren't all that bad looking for humans. And you…" she turned to Thorn, "You definitely know what to wear to attract positive attention. Follow me into the back room where I will give you proper clothing!"

          Thorn pushed the three human girls into the room before they could protest. Hyoushou called after the girls, "Don't be too picky, Fuyu!"

          Tenka laughed, "Autumn looked about ready to kill someone!"

          "She'll probably kill me…" Yusuke rubbed his head again.

          "This should be interesting…" Dariken chuckled as he heard yelling coming from behind the door where the girls went.

          "Now, as for you guys…" Hyoushou looked them up and down. He pointed at Kurama, who was wearing his white outfit, "His outfit is fine." He looked at Hiei, "…I guess that's ok…" He looked at Jin and Touya, "Yeah…" He then looked at Yusuke, "Definitely not." He then came to Dariken, "No." Finally, he came to Kuwabara and took a step back with a look of pure horror on his face, "OH DEAR GOD! WHAT IS **_THAT_???"**

          Everyone started laughing. Kuwabara looked angry. Tenka sighed, "Unfortunately, **_that_ is one of the Reikai Tantei…"**

          Hyoushou frowned, "Well, it would be disrespectful to put a bag over his head…"

          That caused more laughter to erupt from the group. Kuwabara was fuming, "WHAT??? I'M NOT UGLY!!!!"

          Everyone was doubled over laughing at him. After a while the guys were standing around waiting for the girls to be done. Dariken had on an outfit similar to Youko Kurama's only black. Yusuke had on a green outfit that looked a lot like his school uniform and Kuwabara had on an outfit like his uniform and a hat that cast a shadow on his face so it could barely be seen.

          "What's taking them so long?" Kuwabara whined.

         "You know girls. They're probably putting on makeup or something." Yusuke crossed his arms.

          Tenka was talking with Hyoushou about the years since he was gone. Hyoushou had given Tenka a cloak to hide his features. The door opened and Thorn walked out in her yin-yang skirt and long sleeved shirt (chap.4). She was dragging a very pissed off Autumn out of the doors. Autumn was wearing a Japanese style dress that went down to her ankles. It was blue like her eyes and had white roses on it at the bottom. She was wearing the rose necklace that Youko had given Phantom. Her hair had basically been left alone. 

          Arielle came next similarly dressed except her dress was black with flames and she had been given a decorative sword thing to carry around. She was smiling because of the sword. 

          Margaret came out dressed in the same kind of dress (A.N: -_- I don't feel creative today). Hers was black with a red dragon at the bottom. She had also been given a sword. All three of them were wearing Japanese sandals.

          Fuyu closed the doors after them. Thorn pulled Autumn over to Kurama and stood her in front of him, "Well? What do you think? I wanted to do something special with her hair but she threw the brush at me and threatened my life…"

          Kurama smiled as he looked at Autumn. He heard Youko whistle in his head. Autumn fidgeted because of the silence. Kurama took out a white rose and put it in her hair, "You look great."

          "Doncha think that's kind of over doing the roses thing a bit? And…thanks…" Autumn blushed and looked down.

          Margaret and Arielle both walked over to Hiei while glaring at each other. Hiei glared at both of them, he didn't feel like being the center of an argument again. Jin grabbed Margaret's hand and pulled her over to him, "You look really nice, Margaret!" He smiled. She smiled back. Arielle looked at Hiei, he blinked and blushed slightly.

          Yusuke smiled at Arielle and Hiei, "That's his way of saying he likes what you're wearing."

          Tenka walked over to Autumn, "There that wasn't so bad, was it?" 

          "This reminds me of that time I had to get blood drawn when I was little and the nurse said that very same thing to me while I was crying hysterically." Autumn said.

          "I'm just glad I survived! Autumn was about to bash my skull in with her chair when I said I wanted to put makeup on her." Thorn was saying to Dariken.

          "And then you thought better of it, and I let you live." Autumn nodded.

          "You're a tomboy, aren't you?" Yusuke asked.

          Autumn gave Yusuke a death glare and turned to Arielle, "Arielle, can I borrow your sword?" 

          Yusuke whimpered and hid in a corner. Kurama laughed. Dariken looked at the girls, "Why do you two have swords?"

          Fuyu smiled, "They're for decoration and also just in case the rulers find out about Tenka. They'll need some protection."

          "What about her?" Touya pointed at Autumn.

          "She didn't want one." Fuyu said.

          "She doesn't need one! **_Anything_** is a weapon for her!" Yusuke called over from his corner.

          "I'll protect her." Kurama put his arm around Autumn.

          Autumn felt Phantom's anger, _'I can take care of us!' I'm sure you can, but not without revealing our secret! 'They'll find out soon enough, anyway…' What do you mean? '…' Hello? _

          "Onward! To the castle!" Tenka pointed out the door and started walking. The group soon followed after him. They walked for a while before finally coming to the gates of the castle. They explained who they were to the guards and were soon led into a large room lit by those glowing crystals from the mountain. There was a large round table with five rabbit demons sitting around it. Each was dressed in a male version kimono. 

          One of them, dressed in light blue, arched an eyebrow at them, "So, you're the Reikai Tantei?"

          "Yes." Kurama gave a slight bow and motioned for the others to do the same.

          Another of the five demons spoke up, "State your business."

          Kurama had been elected as the speaker because he was the most polite. "We have come here to ask if you or your esteemed colleagues had any information regarding the whereabouts of the kitsune known as Phantom Harmony." He said. 

          Kuwabara had a clueless expression on his face. Yusuke was blinking. Tenka scowled at hearing the five being praised like that. 

          A third, dressed in black, looked around at the members of the group, "Was it necessary to bring such a large group?"

          "Yes, sir, every member of our group is important for finding Phantom." Kurama said. 

          The second, dressed in red, was curious, "If I'm not mistaking, Phantom has been missing for over a century. Why start looking for her now?"

          "It has recently come to Koenma's attention that the four remaining Mist Mountain Kitsune are in grave danger. Three of them have already been located and put under surveillance." Kurama replied.

          "What makes you think that we know anything about her whereabouts?" A demon dressed in green asked.

          "Well, we were informed that before she disappeared she often spent time here in this city. Surely someone must have some information about where she went or at least some information about her that can be used to track her down?" Kurama asked politely.

          _'He makes it sound like we're being hunted…' We are, baka. 'You do realize that you just called yourself stupid as well?' yup! Isn't it great? 'Stop acting like an idiot.' But I am an idiot! 'No, stop that. NOW!' fine… Autumn was having a little conversation with herself to pass the time._

          "Yes, she did spend quite a bit of time here. That was only because of Lord Tenka. The two of them had formed an alliance against us." The fifth, dressed in purple said with obvious dislike.

          Tenka tensed. Autumn arched an eyebrow, _they seem…paranoid…_

          "I believe Phantom had said she was going on a quest to find out the truth about her life. She wanted to find a way to relieve herself of the grief of losing her family. She also said something about getting away from 'that idiot of a boss' once and for all. I seriously doubt that you'll find her if she doesn't want to be found." The first said.

          "She was clever and never one to fall into a trap. She was also a strong fighter. However, she did have one weakness." The third paused to be dramatic, "Her right ear. It had a piece missing from it and it hurt her whenever something touched it."

          "You might try looking in the Temple of Storms for more information. It's located behind the waterfall where the four rivers begin. Tenka often brought Harmony there to cheer her up. I think the squirt might have had a crush on her." The fifth smirked.

          "I DID NOT! SHE WAS LIKE A MOTHER TO ME!!!" Tenka blurted out before he realized what he was saying, "Oops…"

          "WHAT??? TENKA???" The five yelled at the same time as they all stood up.

          Tenka smiled and removed his hood, "Hi guys!"

          "GUARDS!" One of the five called.

          "Run!" Kurama said as he grabbed Autumn's hand and started running toward the door. Autumn grabbed Tenka. The others were running as well. They stopped to hide at Hyoushou's shop. They all got into their original clothes before running off again. They were able to make it out of the city and into the forest. It was already starting to get dark. 

          "Ya just had to go and open your big mouth didn't you?" Autumn glared at Tenka. They were all resting in a small clearing.

          "Sorry…" Tenka's ears drooped in shame.

          "Well, at least we got some information." Yusuke panted.

          "Hey Kurama, how come you knew how to talk to them like that?" Kuwabara asked.

          "It's called showing respect, Kuwabara." Kurama answered.

          "You showed those five much more respect than they deserve…" Tenka muttered.

          "Well, let's go to the Temple of Storms!" Thorn said pointing off into the distance.

          "It took me and Harmony at least six hours to get from the city to the temple. But then, it took Harmony less than twenty minutes to get from her house to the city… So it should take us about a day or so to get there considering that there'll be a lot of rocks and things…" Tenka said cheerily. 

          "Great…" Yusuke rolled his eyes.

          "That means that I'll be separated from my Yukina for longer!" Kuwabara whined. Everyone imagined Yukina in a party hat dancing and throwing streamers everywhere.

          "Quit your whining and start walking!" Dariken said.

          "I could sing to pass the time…" Tenka suggested.

          "NO!!!!!!!!" Everyone said at the same time. Tenka pouted and started leading the way to the temple. 

          They walked on until it was around ten PM. They then made camp.

          "Just try not to wake everyone up again tonight, kiddo." Dariken patted Autumn on the head.

          She smiled, "K." Watch shifts were assigned. Hiei and Kurama had the midnight watch shift.

          Kurama was watching Autumn sleep. Hiei scowled, "Must you act like a lovesick fool, Kurama?"

          "But Hiei, I **_am_** a lovesick fool." Kurama smiled.

          "You should be focusing on the mission, not on her."

          "Did you forget that she **_is_** the mission, Hiei?"

          Hiei was silent. He started watching the campfire. Kurama continued watching Autumn sleep. He frowned when he heard her whimper a bit. Her face took on a look of confusion and pain.

          "She's dreaming again?" Hiei asked.

          "Probably…" Kurama sighed.

~*~Autumn's dream (aren't they just lovely?):

          Phantom's eyes were shut as she felt the pain from the cut in her ear. Her blood was flowing down her fur. It mingled with her sister's on the ribbon. The demon laughed and threw the piece of her ear into the nearby lake. She couldn't open her right eye because she knew that blood would get in it. Instead she opened her left to glare at him. 

          He smirked, "What's that? Is that hope that I see in your eye? What hope do you have now? Tell me, how can you still be hopeful? Tell me!" He shook the small fox's body (A.N: I probably should've said this earlier but she's about the size of an adult house cat.).

          Phantom could feel her strength draining. She knew she was going to faint from the blood loss. She started to gather up all her energy in order to try and save her own life. As the demon prepared to cut off her tail she struck. Purple foxfire burst into existence on both his hands. He dropped the dagger in the ashes and then threw Phantom into the lake. 

          "Shimatta! Ah oh well, how much of a difference could one little fox make in my plans?" The demon's words were the last things Phantom heard before passing into unconsciousness.

          When she opened her eyes she saw a clear blue sky above her. She blinked, _did I die? She rolled over and looked around. She was on the mountain where the crystal's shrine was located. Her fur was clean and her ear was bandaged up. The ribbon was still around her neck and it was shining in the sunlight. _

          "Good, you're awake." A gentle voice said from behind her. She turned quickly and saw a large white wolf looking down at her.

          Her ears fell back in fear. The wolf smiled, "Don't be afraid, little one. I didn't save your life just to kill you."

          "You…saved my life?" 

          "Yes. When the demon threw you into the lake I dove in after you. He didn't see me because of the illusion I cast on myself. That was very brave of you to take on that demon by yourself. Brave and stupid."

          "Oh gee thanks." Phantom rolled her eyes.

          The wolf laughed, "You're a feisty little vixen, aren't you?"

          "Don't call me that!"

          "Why not? It's true; you _are_ a female fox…" 

          "Who are you?" Phantom changed the subject.

          "I, little dove, am Kumo."

          "Little dove?" Phantom was surprised to hear someone other than her mother call her that.

          As if reading her thoughts, Kumo replied. "I was a friend of your mother's, Harmony."

          "How long have I been unconscious?"

          "About twelve hours."

          "I have to warn them about the demon!" Phantom tried to run but Kumo had her paw on the fox's tail.

          "They won't listen. The only thing you can do is fight him yourself."

          "Me…fight…him…? But you yourself said that that was a stupid thing for me to do!"

          "Yes, because you didn't have any fighting experience. You've got great potential and I intend to teach you as much as I can in the next two days."

          "We don't have time!"

          "The demon will destroy another village tonight, then another tomorrow night. We cannot help them, but hopefully I can teach you enough so that you'll be able to help the final village. First things first, change into your half-human form."

          "What for?" Phantom had only been in her half-human form a few times before. The Mist Mountain Kitsune only used that form during special ceremonies. The ceremony where that demon had been presented with his pendant was one of those. 

          "It'll be easier for you to fight him." Kumo explained as she herself changed to her human form. She was wearing an all white outfit (Think Youko Kurama's) and had her long white hair pulled back behind her. Her emerald green eyes were bright and full of wisdom. She had two white wolf ears on her head and a long white wolf tail swishing behind her. 

          Phantom took off her ribbon and changed to her half-human form as well. She looked like a teenager and, little did she know, that wouldn't change. She was wearing a black version of Kumo's outfit. Kumo shook her head and held out new clothes to Phantom. (A.N: this is gonna be hard to describe…It'd be so much easier just to show the picture I drew… it's kinda like Kurama's outfit during his fight against Karasu) The top was like a dress. It was light blue in color and had long sleeves that would probably cover her hands. There was a gold trim that went from the left side of her neck across to her right arm and another trim that went from the right side of her neck down to the other trim. There was a slit in the dress like garment that went up to her hips on both sides and in the back. There was also a black pair of pants similar to the ones she was already wearing and a golden colored fabric belt to go with it. She quickly changed and stood admiring herself in the lake.

          Kumo laughed a little at the fox's reaction, "Typical teenager."

          Phantom's tail was sticking out through the slit in the back of the top. She picked up her ribbon and tied it around her tail where the fabric was, "So, what are you going to teach me?"

          "How to use your spirit energy as a weapon. First things first, pick anything in this clearing that you want to use as a weapon." 

          Phantom looked around. She considered all the plants but her eye was caught by a pretty blue feather. She picked it up, "I want to use this."

          "It'll be harder to manage than a plant but I'm sure that you can handle it." Kumo smiled. For the rest of the two days Phantom was taught how to defend herself, attack, and use her spirit energy effectively. By the evening of the third day since her village was destroyed Phantom was able to beat Kumo in a spar. Her ear had, for the most part, healed and the bandages had been removed. She saw the glow of flames coming from the final mountain and quickly ran off in that direction after thanking Kumo. 

          Phantom was saddened to find that so many of the kitsune on that mountain had already been killed. After a while she started thinking that they had all been killed. She then heard laughing in the distance and ran in its direction. She hid behind a tree and looked out. The demon had an old grey fox with nine tails cornered against a rock. 

          "Ninikinaki, you old fool! Do you really think that you can beat me?"

          Ninikinaki sighed and looked at the ground, "Harmony was right about you…"

          "Yes, Harmony was a smart girl. She was the only one who realized that I was up to something. It's too bad."

          "You killed her?"

          "I've killed all of them. You're the only one left, not including those two that went on a journey two years ago but they're probably dead. Now, prepare yourself to die like all the others!" The demon prepared himself to strike.

          "Stop this madness at once!" Phantom commanded as she stepped out of the shadows. 

          Both demons blinked in surprise at her. The dragon demon's frown turned into a smirk as he looked the fox over. "Who do we have here?"

          "You don't recognize me?" Phantom pointed at her ear.

          The demon looked stunned. "Harmony???"

          Phantom shook her head, "No. You will address me as Phantom from now on."

          "I thought you were dead." The demon was moving ever so slowly towards her hoping she wouldn't notice.

          She did and chose to ignore it. Instead she readied her feather for an attack. "I did to, but it was not my time to die."

          "Well now is!" The demon called as he lunged at her.

          Phantom jumped out of his way and was now standing on the rock that Ninikinaki was standing against. She held her feather in front of her and closed her eyes. The feather started to glow a light purple color. She swung the feather through the air as if it were a sword. A shower of sparkles fell from it as she swung it. She then held it in front of her again only this time it wasn't a feather. It was a long silver sword. The hilt was the same sky blue as the feather and it appeared to be in the shape of a pair of wings. There was a sapphire stone set into its base. 

          Both demons gawked at her. The dragon demon spoke angrily, "How did you learn to do that?"

          "I was taught by a friend." Phantom replied simply before jumping down to stand in front of Ninikinaki. 

          The dragon charged at her. She stepped aside and hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword sending him crashing into the ground. He recovered quickly and slashed at her. She sidestepped and hit the sword out of his hand with the flat side of her sword. She then took the offensive and attacked him. She cut off the tip of his tail and gave him many serious injuries during the fight while she was only scratched a few times. 

          The dragon stood panting and holding his bleeding side, "I don't understand…I should be able to beat you…I have the spirits of the other kitsune with me…"

          "You may have their spirits, but their hearts are with me. They won't aid you in harming me." 

          "Kutabare!" The dragon yelled. He then took off running toward the exit. Phantom blocked his path. He remembered his wings and took off into the air. 

          "Come back here, coward!" Phantom yelled as she watched him fly away with the amulet and her family's spirits.

          Ninikinaki walked over to her. "You have done well, Harmony."

          "Not well enough, we are the only ones left and I was not able to release their spirits…" 

          "You are still young. There is only so much one can do while young. Perhaps, over time, you will be able to find that amulet and release those spirits. Until then, you must follow your heart and all will occur as it should." 

          "Perhaps. First, things first, I must find my idiot brother and tell him that Mother and Melody are gone. Ninikinaki?"

          "Hmm?"

          "Don't tell anyone exactly what happened here. Tell them that it was fire that killed our friends. If anyone were to find out about the amulet it would be tragic."

          "I understand."

          "Good." With that Phantom turned around and walked down the mountain and into the forest away from the mountains. She never once looked back.

~*~

          Autumn opened her eyes slowly and looked around. Hiei and Kurama were still on watch duty. Tenka was curled up next to her sleeping peacefully. The others were around sleeping as well. She sat up carefully so as not to wake Tenka and yawned.

          Kurama looked surprised, "Autumn? What are you doing awake?"

          "Don't know. I just…woke up."

          "I thought you were having another dream…"

          "I was."

          "And?"

          "And then I woke up." Autumn smirked as she saw Kurama roll his eyes.

          "Must you be so difficult?"

          "Yes, I must."

          Hiei shook his head and muttered something that sounded like 'baka kitsune.'

          "What was your dream about?" Kurama asked.

          "The same thing the other dreams were about."

          Kurama growled, "Answer my questions! What happened in the dream?"

          "Well, if you wanted to know **_that_**, you should've said so!" Autumn laughed.

          "Obviously, it wasn't a bad dream, since she's so perky…" Hiei mumbled from the other side of the fire.

          Kurama sighed, "Are you going to answer the question or not?"

          "No, I don't think I will…" 

          Youko took over without Kurama transforming. He pounced on Autumn. They rolled on the ground laughing until Kurama was pinning her down, "Answer my question!"

          "Alright, alright! Sheesh! Just get off of me and I'll tell you!"

          Kurama smiled smugly as he sat back down. Autumn pulled some leaves out of her hair as she told them everything that happened in the dream. 

          "Interesting…" Kurama looked thoughtful.

          "That's great! Now the prophecy can finally be fulfilled!" Tenka said sitting up.

          "How long have you been awake?" Autumn asked.

          "Since you and Kurama were rolling around on the ground. I thought you were doing something naughty…"

          "So did I." Hiei said. Autumn and Kurama (Not Youko anymore) blushed.

          "What prophecy?" Autumn asked suddenly.

          "Oh, um…" Tenka blinked.

          "Well?" Autumn crossed her arms.

          "Well, you see… Before Harmony disappeared she visited an oracle. The oracle told her that in order for her to be able to find the amulet and destroy it her spirit would have to be in perfect harmony. She was confused so the oracle clarified by saying that grief stricken as she was she wouldn't be able to touch the amulet without being corrupted by its power. Harmony called herself Phantom because she felt like a phantom of her former self. Well, her former self had been buried deep in her soul and she couldn't reawaken it as she was. She then set out on her journey to find the peace of spirit that she needed. For the sake of making it easier to understand let's call the hidden part Harmony and the rest of the spirit Phantom. Phantom realized that harmony was the part of her spirit that was most like a human child so she became the spirit of an unborn human child and sure enough the Harmony part of spirit became the child's personality…"

          Autumn pointed at herself, "You mean that I'm the Harmony part of Phantom's spirit?"

          Tenka smiled, "That you are, Autumn! That's the reason that Phantom kept her memories from you. She didn't want to shatter your happy go lucky attitude. Those hidden memories have been creating an imbalance between both parts of your spirit…"

          "What do you mean?" Kurama asked.

          Tenka turned to him, "Well, with you and Youko it's different. You have all of Youko's memories and he ahs all of yours. Both of you feel what the other feels and know everything about each other. Phantom's been hiding memories from Harmony so that created a situation where the two are almost different spirits entirely. That would have eventually driven Harmony insane and who knows what would've happened!"

          "Is that why she's been having those dreams?" Hiei was very interested in this whole thing. 

          "Yes, the dreams were an overlapping of Harmony's and Phantom's spirits. Once Autumn regains all of Phantom's memories they will be in perfect harmony and will wind up much like Kurama. The dreams could only help her regain so much memory; the rest will come as she sees things that Phantom once saw."

          "This is kind of making my head hurt…" Autumn said.

          Tenka started to talk about random things with Kurama and Hiei. Autumn soon fell asleep leaning on Kurama's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and held her close while she slept.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream:  Well, that's all folks!

Freckles: Start writing the next chapter, NOW!

Dream: I was planning to…

Kurama: That chapter was the longest yet…

Dream: YAY! LET'S HAVE A PARTY!!!!!!!!!!  
Freckles: Let's not and say we did…

Dream: *off in her own little happy party world* ^_^

List of Japanese words used in this chapter:

Shimatta – damn it

Kutabare – f*** you!

Che – shit 

Disclaimer: I do not own Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yusuke, Jin, Touya, Koenma, etc. the other characters in this fic I do own.  
  



	13. Autumn's secret revealed!

Dream: *dancing to some of her Japanese music*

Kurama: *watching*

Freckles: *having a panic attack* HAS ANYONE SEEN MUPPET OR CHUCHU???? THEY'VE BEEN GONE FOR THE PAST…HOWEVER MANY CHAPTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream: *still dancing* Didja try lookin under that laundry basket that appeared out of nowhere?

Freckles: What laundry basket? 

Kurama: *points* that one.

Freckles: o.o;;; oh… *turns over laundry basket*

Chuchu: HI SPECKLES!!!!!!!!!! YOU FOUND US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^

Muppet: Dude, that was not cool. I did NOT like being stuck under a laundry basket with that ball of fluffy hyperness!!!

Dream: *still dancing* you know what? I really don't like to dance…

Freckles: o.O then why on Earth are you dancing???

Dream: *pauses* umm…*shrugs* beats me! *starts dancing again*

Freckles: -_-

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          The next morning came quickly. The group was eating breakfast. Arielle was holding her new sword protectively. 

          "I can't believe they let us keep the clothes we got." Margaret said.

          "I want to burn mine." Autumn said.

          "Can I burn it? Please? Oh please let me burn it!!!" Arielle pleaded.

          "Hey, Autumn, where'd you get that necklace anyway?" Margaret asked.

          "Err…Kurama gave it to me…" Autumn said.

          "Hiei, I think you should teach Arielle and Margaret how to use those swords before we continue our journey." Kurama said.

          "Kurama, I think you should keep your suggestions to yourself." Hiei glared at Kurama from the tree he was sitting in.

          "I think Kurama's right." Dariken nodded.

          Autumn, Kurama, and Thorn stared blankly at Dariken. Arielle grinned at the thought of being taught how to use her sword. Hiei finally agreed and spent a few hours teaching them the basics of using their swords. After that the group started walking again.

          "How much longer?" Kuwabara whined.

          "Kuwabara, you've been asking the same question over and over again for the past thirty minutes!!! BE QUIET!!!!!!" Kurama yelled.

          "I was just asking…" Kuwabara sulked.

          "Meh, I wish Koenma was here…" Tenka pouted.

          Koenma appeared out of nowhere, "Aw, Tenka, I knew you cared!"

          Tenka smiled, "GREAT! Now I can throw stuff at you!" He started throwing twigs and pebbles at Koenma. 

          "Knock that off!" 

          "Kutabare!"

          "FRECKLES!!! NO CURSING!!!" Autumn yelled.

          "Sorry…" Tenka sighed.

          "Apology accepted." Koenma smiled.

          "I wasn't apologizing to **_you_**, I was apologizing to **_her_**!"

         "Why you…" Koenma started chasing Tenka around again. Everyone sighed and kept walking.

          "Kurama, will you sing us a song?" Autumn asked in a sweet voice.

          "What song?" 

          Autumn thought for a moment, "Sayonara wa mirai no hajimari!" 

          "Do you know every song that I've sung?" 

          "Pretty much." Autumn smiled.

          Kurama sighed and started singing. After that Autumn asked him to sing Kurayami ni akai bara and Koori no Naifu wo daite. Hiei and Kurama started singing Wild Wind. Then Kuwabara decided they should sing eye to eye. 

          "MAKE HIM STOP SINGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Margaret yelled as Kuwabara began to sing. 

          Kuwabara looked hurt, "I don't sing that bad…"

          Everyone started laughing at him. He sulked. Hiei and Kurama began singing any other songs of theirs that they hadn't sung. Jin and Touya sang their songs and Yusuke sang his songs. After all that singing they were finally at the waterfall.

          The waterfall was falling down the side of a large cliff and into a small lake. The lake had a thin layer of ice over the top. A ledge along the side of the cliff led behind the waterfall. Kuwabara decided he would just walk across the ice.

          "Umm, Kuwabara? I don't think that's such a good idea…" Autumn said.

          "Why not?" He took a step on the ice and fell through into the lake.

          "That's why…" Autumn said -_-

          "Baka ningen…" Hiei scoffed.

          "Hey! I'm a human too!" Arielle said.

          "Yes, but you're not a stupid human…you're just a human."

          "Yay! Hiei likes me!" Arielle smiled.

          "Uh…shouldn't someone make sure Kuwabara hasn't drowned?" Koenma asked. 

          Tenka had convinced Touya to refreeze the spot where Kuwabara had fallen through and they were both watching him try to get out. 

          "What are you doing??? Are you _trying_ to kill Kuwabara???" Koenma yelled.

          "Yes." Tenka replied simply.

          Kuwabara opened his mouth to scream curses at them but since he was under water he started choking on the water. 

          Koenma then cracked the ice and Kuwabara jumped out onto the shore. He was gasping for breath, "It was really cold under there!"

          "Why'd you save him???" Tenka pouted.

          "Are we going to go into this stupid temple or not???" Autumn twitched.

          "We should wait until tomorrow. It'll be too dark to see inside if we don't." Koenma said pointing out that it was already dark again. Everyone sighed and made camp. The next morning they were having trouble waking Autumn up.

          Kurama was shaking her shoulders, "Autumn? Autumn, it's time to wake up…"

          "…the muffins…ferret…bunny…cheese…aardvarks…" Autumn rambled about random things.

          Everyone sweat dropped. Dariken sighed, "Well, I guess this must be the first full night of sleep she's had in a while…"

          Arielle looked around, "Does anyone have a bottle?"

          Hiei handed her one of the bottles Kurama had on the ground. She smirked evilly and went over to the lake. She filled the bottle with the ice cold water and walked back over to Autumn. She dumped the water over Autumn's head.

          Autumn sat up quickly, "BLOODY HELL!!!!! WHAT WAS THAT??????????" She saw Arielle holding an empty water bottle and glared at her.

          Arielle handed the bottle to Yusuke, "He did it."

          "What?" Yusuke blinked before realizing what was happening, "NO I DID'NT!!!!!!!! SHE DID!!!!!!!!!!"

          It was too late. Autumn stood up and was giving Yusuke a death glare. "BAKA KISAMA!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?????????" She then picked up a large tree branch and started chasing Yusuke around with it. 

          "I DIDN'T DO IT, YOU BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yusuke screamed as he ran. He finally jumped into the lake and Autumn stopped chasing him and walked back over to Kurama.

          "You do realize that Arielle was the one that dumped that water on you..." Kurama said.

          Autumn smiled, "I know. It's just more fun to chase Yusuke cuz I know he won't hurt me."

          Yusuke came back mumbling curses under his breath and now completely soaked. The group then walked inside the temple. Tenka was leading the way.

          "Why do they call this the 'Temple of Storms'?" Thorn asked as they walked.

          "Because the temple was built to honor the weather." Tenka replied casually.

          The temple was lit by those same glow crystals. The group was walking down a long hallway made of black crystal. There were carvings in the wall every so often that depicted storms and strange demonic creatures. They were walking for hours on end until they found themselves at a fork in the hallway.

          "Which way do we go?" Margaret asked.

          Tenka blinked, "I don't know…Where are we going?"

          Everyone fell down anime style. Autumn got up and glared at Tenka, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WAS LEADING US DOWN HERE! HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING???"

          Tenka rubbed the back of his nervously, "Well…umm…" 

          "Autumn, pick one and we'll follow you." Kurama said.

          "Why me?" Autumn pointed at herself.

          Kurama smiled, "Because I trust your instincts."

          _'The one on the left.'__ Autumn nodded and pointed down the tunnel on the left, "That way!"_

          Yusuke looked skeptical, "Maybe **_you_** trust her instincts Kurama, but**_ I_ don't. Give me one good reason why I should trust her with this decision…"**

          Autumn pulled a book out of her bag. It was thick and looked like it could do damage. Yusuke gulped before starting to walk down the tunnel whistling. Autumn smiled and put away her book. Everyone else followed as she walked down the hall.

          After walking for a few more hours everyone was starting to get ticked off.

          "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!!!" Yusuke was yelling at Autumn.

          "Stop yelling at me! This way was just as good as the other way!"

          "She's right, Yusuke." Kurama said.

          "Of course you say she's right! She's your girlfriend! You would say she was right even if she murdered us all here and now! I'm sure that's what she's trying to do, too!" Yusuke yelled.

          "Autumn would never do such a thing!"

          "Would too! In case you haven't noticed, she's a bitc…" Yusuke was cut off by Kurama punching him in the gut. (o.O now you know how edgy they all are)

          "She is not!" 

          "Children! Would you please stop fighting??? There's one good way to find out what's up ahead!" Dariken yelled.

          "And that would be?" Yusuke asked while still holding his stomach in pain.

          "Hiei's Jagan eye." Dariken replied.

          "I already tried that. The path up ahead has a spell on it." Yusuke stuck his tongue out at Autumn. "And the other path leads to a dead end." Hiei finished and Autumn smiled smugly at Yusuke.

          "Yusuke, I believe you Autumn an apology." Kurama crossed his arms.

          "Sorry…" Yusuke muttered softly.

          "What was that, Yusuke?" Autumn smiled.

          "Sorry." Yusuke said a bit louder.

          "I can't hear you." Autumn crossed her arms.

          "I SAID I'M SORRY, OK? HAPPY NOW?" 

          "Very. Now let's keep going!" Autumn pointed down the seemingly endless tunnel and started walking away happily.

          "Why are you so happy all of a sudden?" Arielle asked.

         Autumn turned around with a candy cane hanging out of her mouth. She took it out and smiled, "I brought a week's worth of sugary things."

          Dariken twitched, "YOU HAVE SWEET THINGS??? GIMME!!!! GIVE ME THE SWEETS!!!!!!!!!!!"

          Autumn threw a candy cane at his head. He snatched it and started petting it, "My Precioussss…" 

          Everyone stared at him. He looked around, "What?" He then ate the candy cane in one bite.

          "Umm…Dariken…?" Autumn said.

          "Mm?" 

          "You were supposed to take the plastic off of it first…" Autumn sighed. -_-

          "Oh…" Dariken blinked.

          The group walked on for another hour before they finally saw a room up ahead of them. Autumn ran out into the room and looked around. The room appeared to be made of black crystal. It was being lit by golden glowing crystals. She walked forward until she was standing in the middle of the room. 

          _This is a trap, isn't it? 'Yes. As soon as the others get inside the room all the exits will be blocked and we will be cut off from the others.' Should I turn back? 'No. We can handle this.' Autumn put her hands in her pockets and waited looking directly ahead of her. _

          Once the others were inside a screen of black magic blocked off the doorway they had just come through and the exit on the other side of the room. Kurama tried to run to Autumn but was sent back by another force field. "Autumn!"

          Autumn glanced behind her at him and smiled. She then turned back to look at the shadowy figure that had appeared in front of her. "Nuala, why have you led us here?" she called out.

          "Why, for revenge, of course! You're pretty much useless without your friends to help you. It'll be like squashing a bug." Nuala had been pacing back and forth in front of Autumn and now stopped and glared at her, "Unless what I suspect about you is true…"

          "Oh? And what do you suspect about me?"

          "I suspect that you are Phantom Harmony."

          Autumn smirked, "If I was Phantom Harmony, why would I have hidden it from my friends?"

          "Because you don't want to be found. You decided to 'help' when really what you were doing was trying to steer them off course, am I right?"

          "Perhaps. Perhaps not. That's for me to know and for you to try and find out."

          "It must be true if you said that!"

          "No, I just like toying with people. It's fun." Autumn smiled cheerily.

          Nuala blinked, "Wait…it's not true?"

          "Nope! Don't you think that if I was Phantom I would've been able to avoid this trap?"

          "I suppose you're right…" Nuala was eyeing her suspiciously.

          Autumn was still smiling cheerily. _I wonder how much longer I can keep this up…_

          "Well, that's too bad! I guess you won't be able to stop me from killing you, then!" Nuala shrugged.

          "Guess not!" Autumn's smile widened.

          "Why are you so happy?" Nuala blinked.

          "Candy canes! You want one?" Autumn held one out to Nuala.

          Nuala arched an eyebrow at her, "No…You do realize you're about to die?"

          Autumn nodded happily while eating the candy cane. She figured that if she played dumb she might be able to trick Nuala into letting her guard down.

          Nuala narrowed her eyes at Autumn. She then smiled, "You know what?"

          Autumn shook her head, "What?"

          "How do I know you aren't toying with me right now? You did say that you thought toying with people was fun…"

          Autumn blinked, _oops… Out loud she said, "Guess you'll have to take my word for it!"_

          Kurama was clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. Yusuke put his hand on Kurama's shoulder, "You okay?"

          "Oh sure, my girlfriend's about to get killed and I can't do a thing to help her. I've never been better! How about you?"

          Yusuke sighed and looked away. The others decided to leave Kurama alone as well.

          Nuala was holding a ball of dark energy in her hand and she was taking a step towards Autumn. Autumn still had a candy cane hanging out of her mouth. Nuala threw the ball at Autumn. Autumn dodged it and ran. Nuala summoned a reddish black orb.

          "This energy ball will be drawn to anything that has the scent of a human on it and is moving fast. Have fun." Nuala threw the ball.

          Autumn took her candy cane out of her mouth and flung it across the room at one of the force fields. She then dove to the ground and watched as the orb exploded against the force field.

          "Clever. Unfortunately those tactics won't keep you alive for long." Nuala took a step towards Autumn. 

          Autumn turned to run again but Nuala was in front of her. She blinked, "How did you…?"

          Nuala grabbed Autumn's throat and pushed her up against the wall, "I'm a demon you idiot, I can move faster than you." She then summoned another orb and readied herself to strike, "Any last words?"

          "Yeah. Kurama, I love you! Take care of Freckles for me, k?" Kurama nodded.

          The next thing Autumn saw was black. She sighed, "Am I dead?" 

          "No, if you were dead, Botan would be here instead of me." A voice said from the darkness.

          "Who's there?"

          "Don't you recognize me?" A figure stepped out of the shadows as Autumn sat up.

          "PHANTOM?!? But…but…how?"

          "Nuala's last attack knocked you unconscious. It would've killed you, but I was able to secretly shield you. Right now she thinks you're dead so we've got some time to think."

          "Ok, thanks!"

          "…she still will kill you if we don't achieve balance. Even then she might kill us since we don't have a weapon."

          "Do you really think I'm that stupid? I put one of Jouka's feathers in my pocket!"

          "You did? That's great! Alright, listen up. You and I are the same spirit just different parts of it, right?"

          Autumn nodded happily, "That's what Tenka said."

          "We have to combine our strengths in order to defeat her!"

          "Will we kill her?"

          "It depends."         

          "On what?" Autumn tilted her head to the side.

          "On whether or not she decides to give in. She knows she can't beat me."

          "But I'm not as strong as you…I have no idea how to use a weapon!"

          "We'll be acting as one. I will guide you with my knowledge and you will guide me with yours."

          "Whoa! I have knowledge? O_O"

          Phantom laughed and held out her hand to Autumn. Autumn took it and they both smiled.

          ~*~Meanwhile, right after Nuala had attacked Autumn:

          Nuala shook the limp body and turned to grin at Kurama, "Humans are such frail creatures, wouldn't you agree, Kurama? Well this is what you get for falling in love with one!" She casually tossed the body aside.

          Kurama's eyes were filled with tears. Tenka had his eyes closed tightly and was clinging to Kurama's leg. The others were stunned as well. 

          Nuala's evil laugh rang out through the cavern, "So ends another worthless human life!"

          "Her life wasn't worthless! She had a good heart and you killed her! Are you happy now? Are you happy that you've destroyed my life as well as hers???" Kurama closed his eyes.

          Nuala laughed again, "Yes, yes I am."

          "C'mon Kurama, you would've gotten over it eventually! I mean there are tons of other girls out there who're much prettier and much nicer… Why spend your entire life mourning me?" A voice said from behind Nuala.

          Everyone looked. Kurama's eyes went wide, "Autumn?"

          "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?" Autumn smiled as she stood up and brushed herself off. Kurama smiled lovingly at her.

          Nuala's jaw dropped, "How can this be? How can you still be alive and uninjured???"

          "Oh, that…Yeah, I lied to you. I really am Phantom Harmony."

          "WHAT??? YOU MEAN THIS WHOLE TIME WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR **_YOU_**???" Yusuke yelled across the room.

          "Yup. Dariken, Kurama, Thorn, Hiei, and Tenka were helping me keep the secret."

          "Traitors…" Yusuke glared at all of them.

          Tenka frowned, "Momma! Why'd you make me worry like that?"

          Autumn didn't have time to answer because Nuala threw another orb at her. She did Phantom's little trick with the feather sword only this time the hilt was orange, and sliced the orb in half. "Now that's not very nice, couldn't you see I was in the middle of a conversation?" her voice sounded different. It sounded wiser and somewhat distant. Her eyes had grown stormier.

          Nuala stood there with her mouth hanging open, "But…you…I…"

          Autumn smirked, "I suggest you run."

          Nuala started running towards the exit. Autumn chased after her and caught her by the hood, "That reminds me. You have two things to do before I release you into the custody of the Reikai Tantei…"

          "And they would be…?"

          "Remove these force fields and change my rabbit back to a rabbit." 

          "Fine…" Nuala waved her hand and the force fields disappeared. Kurama rushed over and pulled Autumn into a hug.

          "I thought I'd lost you!"

          "Kurama…you're…crushing…me…"

          "Oh, sorry…" He loosened his grip on her.

          Botan appeared out of nowhere, "Good job! You've caught Nuala!" Botan said to Yusuke because he was holding Nuala's hands behind her back.

          "Hey! I caught Nuala! And she still has to change my bunny back!" Autumn called over.

          Botan noticed the feather sword in Autumn's hands. She smiled, "So you _arePhantom…"_

          Nuala chanted a spell and Tenka turned back into a rabbit. A necklace in the shape of a carrot with orange crystal making up the bottom part and green crystal making up the top part fell next to him. Nuala glared at Autumn, "That necklace is so that he can change back and forth from rabbit to demon as he pleases. I just want you to know that I hate you."

          "Ok!" Autumn smiled. Botan took Nuala then disappeared.

          Yusuke walked over to glare at Autumn, "You mean to tell me that all this was for nothing because this whole time **_you_** were Phantom Harmony???"

          Autumn's feather sword turned back to normal as Kurama let her go. She swayed a bit and grabbed Kurama's arm for support, "Oi, I feel really dizzy…How can you fight like that, Kurama?"

          "You'll get used to it." Kurama smiled.

          "Hello? Answer my question!" Yusuke yelled.

          Tenka had changed himself back into a demon with the necklace. He stood, "We're not finished here yet…Look!" He pointed at a demon beast that was coming down the hallway that Nuala had come through.

          "What is that???" Arielle asked.

          "Stay Back!" Hiei commanded. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Well that's it! I hafta hurry with this cuz I want to finish on Christmas day! And that's TOMORROW!

Freckles: o.O wow that sux…

Dream: Yeah, but the story's pretty much finished, thank goodness…

Kurama: Y'know, it took you less than a month to write this story but months to write the first one…

Dream: Let's just say I've been more focused with this one… -_-

Freckles: Neway, please R&R!


	14. The demon within

Dream: WOO! It's Xmas Eve!!!

Freckles: ^_^ do I get a carrot tomorrow?

Dream: o.O shoot, I don't have anything for you...

Freckles: *gets evil look on his face* You Don't??? Why you… *starts chasing dream around* Get back here!

Dream: HELP! I'M BEING CHASED BY A PSYCHO BUNNY!!!!

Kurama: o.O;;; yes, well, we hope you enjoy chap. 14 The demon within!

Dream: SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM THE WRATH OF THE EVIL BUNNY OF DOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          Tenka had changed himself back into a demon with the necklace. He stood, "We're not finished here yet…Look!" He pointed at a demon beast that was coming down the hallway that Nuala had come through.

          "What is that???" Arielle asked.

          "Stay Back!" Hiei commanded. 

          The demon beast took a step forward and released glowing circular pendants into the air. The pendants flew towards the group. Yusuke was blasting them. Kuwabara and Hiei were hitting them with their swords. Kurama was using his whip against them. One got past him and attached itself to his wrist.

          "Kurama! You okay?" Autumn asked. 

          "Yes, fine…Look out!" Kurama tried to push Autumn out of the way but another pendant came and attached itself to her wrist.

          "Eek! Get it off! Get it off!" Autumn started waving her arm around very fast.

          A loud screech was heard as Hiei sliced the beast in half. The others then gathered around Autumn and Kurama.

          Kuwabara poked at the pendant on Kurama's wrist, "What is it?"

          A loud laugh echoed around the room, "Those pendants are very similar to the necklace around Tenka's neck. They are under my control and if I will it Kurama and his little girlfriend will change into their demon forms."

          "I have a name you know!" Autumn yelled.

          The pendants began to glow. The glow surrounded Autumn and Kurama. Once it cleared Youko and Phantom were standing there. Phantom had on the outfit from the last dream. Youko was wearing his usual outfit.

          Phantom blinked and arched an eyebrow, "…that was stupid. This only makes us stronger…"

          Everyone stared blankly at them. Koenma smiled and put his arms in the air, "This is great! Now Phantom will help Yusuke with his missions and the demons will be too frightened to commit crimes!"

          Phantom's ear twitched. She grabbed Koenma by the front of his shirt and held him up at eye level. "Now listen here, shrimp. I will not help Yusuke in his missions. I want nothing more to do with you! Also, if anyone other than the people in this room right now finds out where I am or that I've been found I will hold you responsible and you will suffer. Do you understand?" she growled.

          Koenma nodded. Everyone blinked at her except Youko, he was smiling. Phantom arched an eyebrow at him, "What?"

          Youko shook his head, "And you look like such a nice girl."

          "Every rose has its thorns, Youko. You said that yourself." Phantom dropped Koenma.

          "And here I thought you weren't paying attention to me when I said that." Youko smiled.

          "I wasn't. Jouka told me you said that."

          Dariken started to laugh. Youko glared at him, "It's not funny!"

          Phantom was busy inspecting the pendant on her wrist. She pulled at it but it wouldn't come off. She then noticed that Thorn had been staring at her the whole time. Phantom blinked, "Is there a reason that you're staring at me?"

          Thorn suddenly squealed loudly and ran over making Phantom take a step back. "PHANTOM!!!!! YOU'RE MY HERO!!!!! I NEVER THOUGHT THAT I'D ACTUALLY GET TO MEET YOU!!!!!!! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!" Thorn yelled loudly. Phantom's ears went back in shock from the loud noise.

          "Hey! Can we get out of here already?" Yusuke yelled.

          "Not until we reverse the spell on Phantom and Youko." Tenka crossed his arms.

          Thorn was now shaking Phantom's hand furiously. Phantom finally pulled her hand away. "Alright, alright! Calm down! Take deep breaths!" she yelled at Thorn.

          Thorn nodded and started taking deep breaths. Phantom was about to say something when something caught her attention. It was a strange yet familiar energy. She turned to face the direction of the energy. Youko put his hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

          "You don't sense that energy?"

          "No…are you feeling ok…?" Youko looked at her suspiciously.

          She rolled her eyes at Youko and started walking down the hall where the energy was coming from. She turned and motioned for the others to follow. Tenka rushed over and held her tail while they walked. Phantom could feel the energy getting stronger as they walked.

          "Where are we going?" Kuwabara whined.

          "Silence, ningen. I'm trying to concentrate." Phantom hissed.

          "But…"

          Phantom let out a low growl as her ears flattened back in anger. Youko turned to Kuwabara, "Be quiet now if you value your life."

          Phantom stopped suddenly and looked at the wall on the left. She put her hand on it and it started to glow revealing an ancient stone door with a symbol on it. The symbol was a white fox and a black fox together in the shape of a yin yang. Underneath that was a small circular space where a token of some sort would go. There was ancient writing in the space that Phantom studied carefully. 

          Thorn walked over and looked at the space, "Hey! That writing looks familiar!" She pulled a pendant out of her pocket. It was golden with a carving of the mist mountains in its center and the ancient writing along the outside.

          Phantom and Dariken's eyes widened when they saw it. "Where did you get that???" they both yelled at the same time.

          "…my dad gave it to me…" Thorn blinked at their reactions.

          Phantom closed her eyes. "By any chance, did your father have silver dragon wings and a silver tail that was cut off at the end?"

          "Yes…how did you know?" 

          "Because I was the one that cut off his tail…"

          Thorn's eyes widened, "What??? WHY???" 

          Phantom kept her eyes closed, "He killed them…"

          "Killed who…?" 

          "My family and the other Mist Mountain Kitsune. He killed them all." Phantom's voice remained calm. 

          Youko wrapped his arms around her, "Phantom…"

          She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "Call me Harmony."

          Dariken was stunned, "What…? Our family was killed? By Thorn's father…?"

          Thorn looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "You hate me now, don't you?"

          "No…I hate your father, not you."

          Phantom pointed at the pendant in Thorn's hands, "Put that in the space on the wall. It'll probably open the door."

          Thorn nodded and placed it gently in the space on the wall. The pendant glowed brightly and there was a clicking sound but the door didn't open. Yusuke laughed, "Got any other ideas, fox girl?"

          Youko growled slightly and pulled Phantom closer. She tilted her head to the side as she looked at the symbol on the door. Tenka smirked, "You know what? I think you and Youko are supposed to put your hands on the foxes. After all, Youko's a white fox…well silver but close enough…and you're a black fox."

          "The runt's got a point." Youko shrugged.

          "HEY!!!! I AM NOT A RUNT!!!!" Tenka yelled up at him.

          "Yes you are! You're even shorter than Hiei!" Youko laughed.

          "Kurama…" Hiei said menacingly while holding his sword as if he was ready to attack.

          -_- Phantom sighed, "Are you quite through? I'd like to get this over with as quickly as possible."

          "Sure." Youko held out his hand and put it on the white fox as Phantom did the same with the black fox. The door started glowing and then was gone.

          "Where are we going?" Arielle asked.

          Phantom started walking through the door, "We'll find out once we get there."

          "You don't know?" Arielle blinked. Phantom shrugged. "Well then why are we going?" Arielle crossed her arms.

          "You'll find out when we get there." Phantom sighed.

          Youko grinned, "You're just like I remember you."

          Dariken growled and walked over to give Youko a death glare, "You keep away from my baby sister you thieving bastard."

          Phantom sighed and grabbed Dariken's ear before pushing him ahead of her through the door, "I can take care of myself, Dari."

          Youko smiled and followed Phantom. The others soon followed. After walking for a while longer and up a few flights of stairs they found themselves standing on a large ledge on the mountainside. The sun was rising. 

          "You mean we were walking around in that cave for a whole day???" Yusuke yelled.

          "Obviously." Phantom crossed her arms.

          "This is all your fault! If you had just told us who you were in the first place we wouldn't be here right now!" Yusuke yelled at Phantom.

          "Calm down. I have to take care of something quickly and then we can leave." Phantom said.

          "Oh? And what would that be?" Dariken asked.

          Another cold laugh was heard from above. Everyone looked to see a dragon demon floating there. He was wearing a long black cape and all black clothes. His hair was black and tipped with silver. He had one red eye and one violet colored eye. He had large black and silver dragon wings and a long silver tail. Around his neck he was wearing the amulet that held the spirits of the Mist Mountain Kitsune in it.

          Thorn's jaw dropped, "ZERO???"

          "Hello, dear sister." The dragon demon smiled.

          Phantom's eyes narrowed as she saw the amulet. It was glowing with strong black energy. She gave a low growl as she stepped forward, "Give that amulet to me, now!"

          "What's so special about my father's old amulet?" Thorn asked.

          "Thorn, when our father killed those kitsune he trapped their spirits in this amulet. I'm sure it's been bothering Phantom for a long time that her mother and sister haven't been allowed to rest in peace." Zero landed and stood there smirking.

          "Bastard!" Youko yelled.

          Zero shook his head. "Youko, you don't remember me? I was part of your group! So was my sister."

          Youko thought for a moment, "Hey wait, you're that crazy demon that I kicked out because you wanted to steal that crystal from the Mist Mountains…"

          "Yes! The only reason you didn't want to go through with it was because of her!" Zero pointed at Phantom. "After you met her you started going soft!"

          Phantom hadn't taken her eyes off of the amulet the whole time. Youko crossed his arms, "Obviously you don't understand love…"

          "Feh, love is a weakness!" 

          "Not always. Love can also be a strength. It was love for my family that allowed me to beat your father." Phantom said.

          "You didn't beat him!"

          "He ran away like the coward he was."

          "Shut up!" Zero charged at her (A.N: -_- like father like son) and she grabbed the amulet from around his neck as she sidestepped him.

         "Gotcha." She smirked as she summoned her feather sword and prepared to destroy the amulet.

          "NO!" Zero tried to stop her but Youko held him back.

          Phantom threw the amulet in the air and sliced it in half with her sword. A blinding light erupted forth as the amulet started disintegrating. Hundreds upon hundreds of spirits started pouring out of the amulet. As the light was fading a small cream colored fox spirit and a white fox spirit turned and smiled at Phantom. She smiled back and waved. The pendants on Youko's and Phantom's wrists broke and disappeared. Autumn and Kurama were standing there. The light finally disappeared.

          Autumn slumped down into a sitting position, "I am so tired…"

          Kurama sat down next to her, "You did it."

          "NO! What have you done?" Zero was on his hands and knees. Botan appeared.

          "So I suppose he was working with Nuala. Well, I'll take him back to Reikai as well!" She took Zero and disappeared.

          "Do we get to go home now? Tomorrow's Christmas eve!" Kuwabara stated.

          "Hey! I've got a great idea!" Thorn smiled, "How about we all get together for a Holiday party at my house on Christmas?"

          "Sounds like fun!" Autumn smiled.

          "Alright! Let's go home and we'll all meet at Thorn's house for a party on Christmas!" Yusuke smiled.

          Everyone agreed and soon left.

          ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: Well, that's chapter 14! Only one more to go!

Freckles: Aww….

Kurama: What's going to happen?

Dream: *smirks evilly* you'll just have to wait and see!

Kurama: Can't you give me a hint? Please? 

Dream: Alright…here's your hint: mistletoe

Freckles: What about toes? o.O


	15. The Holiday Party!

Dream: JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE ALL THE WAY!!!

Freckles: have you been eating candy canes again…?

Dream: *sitting on a pile of candy cane wrappers* No…

Kurama: -_- Well at least she's happy…

Dream: ^_^ so you'll get me more candy canes?

Kurama: Not a chance

Dream: *cries* you don't wuv me!

Kurama: I do! Just…not when you're hyper…

Dream: OKIE DOKIE! *starts singing random x-mas carols again*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

          It was night on Christmas day; everyone who had been involved with the mission was gathering at Thorn's house. Kuwabara had brought Yukina along and Yusuke had brought Keiko. They were all eating snacks and talking happily. Kurama was waiting for Autumn to get there. 

          "HI EVERYBODY!!!!!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!" Autumn yelled out as she burst through the door with OkageHime trailing behind.

          Everyone turned and started laughing. Arielle pointed to Autumn's head, "What are you wearing???"

          "Reindeer antlers! Y'like?" Autumn smiled, she then opened the bag she was carrying and started throwing candy around for everybody.

          "CANDY!!!!!" Dariken started running around catching the candy.

          Autumn went over and plopped herself down on the couch next to Kurama. The jingle bell on her necklace was ringing the whole time. Kurama smiled and wrapped his arm around her. He handed her a little box. She opened it and saw a hair clip in the shape of a rose. She kissed Kurama and handed him a little bag of seeds.

          "What's this?" He asked.

          "Those flowers you said you wanted to plant in your garden." Autumn smiled and then handed him a little action figure, "Oh, and this is for your step-brother."

          "Oh, I forgot about him."

          "Tell him it's from both of us, then." Autumn smiled again and put the clip in her hair. 

          Elsewhere in the room Yusuke and Keiko were exchanging presents. Kuwabara was dancing with Yukina. Teenage Koenma and Botan were talking. Dariken was eating candy happily. Thorn was bringing out snacks and stuff. Margaret and Jin had given each other gifts. Touya was teaching Tenka some ice techniques. Hiei was blushing madly as he handed Arielle a new sheath for her sword that was black and had a flame pattern on it. Arielle smiled and hugged Hiei. 

          Kurama started laughing. Hiei glared at him, "What's so funny, fox?"

          Autumn pointed above their heads, "Look! Mistletoe!"

          "What?" Hiei asked confused.

          "Mistletoe, Hiei. When a boy and girl stand under it together they're supposed to kiss." Kurama explained.

          "Yeah, Hiei! Go on kiss her!" Yusuke smirked across the room.

          Margaret frowned but didn't say anything because Jin pulled her into a hug. Arielle smiled and bent down to kiss Hiei on the cheek. His face turned bright red causing laughter to erupt among the group.

          "Let's sing Christmas songs!" OkageHime said.

          "Yeah!" Autumn smiled. "I know a good one! _Slippery Sidewalks, people falling, people breaking their bones! People going to the hospital for Christmas! People…"_

          "Umm…Autumn? As pleasant as that song is…perhaps we should sing something else?" Kurama interrupted.

          "Jingle bells…?" Autumn asked.

          Everyone who knew tem was singing the Christmas carols. After a while things settled down and everyone was having their own little conversations. Autumn went outside and sat looking at the stars.

          "Is something wrong?" Kurama asked as he sat down next to her.

          "No, I just wanted to see the stars."

          "Ah."

          "Aren't they pretty?"

          "Yes, pretty is definitely the right word…" Kurama was looking at her.

          "You're not talking about the stars, are you?" Autumn smiled.

          "Not at all." Kurama wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. "How are you feeling?"

          "What do you mean?"

          "Is all well with Harmony?"

          "Oh, yes, everything's fine. I feel great." Autumn shivered a bit.

          "Cold?" he pulled her closer.

          "When are you going back to Japan?" Autumn asked.

          He sighed, "The day after tomorrow.

          "I'm gonna miss you…"

          "I'll miss you too, but we still have the phone."

          "Thank frogs for the phone!"

          "Frogs…?"

          "Don't ask…"

          "I won't." Kurama laughed.

          "Maybe we should go back inside…?" 

          "Why?" There was a loud crash from inside.

          "I have a feeling Kuwabara is going to need help…" Autumn sighed.

          They walked inside to find Kuwabara being chased by Arielle. She had her sword, "C'mon Kuwabara! I want to try out my sword on a moving target!"

          "Arielle, it's not polite to kill people during a party…" Autumn sighed.

          Hiei looked at them and smirked, "Kurama, mistletoe…"

          Kurama and Autumn looked up. "Yes, I suppose it is." Kurama smiled.

          Everyone was grinning as they kissed. OkageHime drew a quick picture. Soon Dariken arched an eyebrow, "Ok, you can stop now." They pulled away blushing and everyone started laughing.

          OkageHime pulled out her sketchbook and started drawing Tenka. (She is such a great artist ^_^) They started singing carols again. 

          "Who's Santa?" Hiei asked after a while.

          "Santa is the fictional character that supposedly travels the world on Christmas Eve bringing gifts to all the good little children of the world. Supposedly he's really fat, has a white beard, and wears a red suit. He has a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and goes down people's chimneys!" Autumn said.

          "And they willingly let this stranger into their homes???" Hiei's eyes grew wide. "Baka ningens…"

          "It's just a story, Hiei! Santa doesn't exist!" Kurama laughed.

          "HE DOESN'T???" Kuwabara looked horrified.

          Everyone stared at him before bursting out laughing. He sulked. OkageHime started drawing random sketches of people in the room. She handed Kurama the one of him and Autumn under the mistletoe. They blushed. Autumn's cell phone rang.

          "Hello?" she looked at Kurama, "Yeah, he's right here. Ok. Shuichi, it's your mom."

          Kurama took the phone, "Hello mother…NO! We're at a party with some other friends!" Kurama's face was bright red. Everyone knew what his mother had suggested. "Yes, Merry Christmas mother…Merry Christmas brat... No, you cannot talk to Autumn! Not after what you said last time! NO! What? Oh, fine." Kurama handed the phone back to Autumn, "My stepbrother wants to say hi."

          She took the phone. "Hullo Shuuichi! Hey, guess what? A boy my age still believed in Santa 'til a few minutes ago. I know, it's hilarious! Yeah, your brother told him." Autumn started laughing, "You really shouldn't have gone in your brother's room…" Kurama raised an eyebrow. "He has a diary? No way, he really wrote that???"

          "What's he telling you?" Kurama snatched the phone and his eyes widened, "SHUUICHI!!!!!!!!! HOW DARE YOU TELL HER THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          Everyone was laughing. Yusuke smiled, "Sounds like you have a great family!"

          Kurama hung up the phone grumbling. Autumn was smiling at him, "You really wrote that?"

          "Yes…" Kurama blushed.

          "It was sweet…"

          "What was it?" Yusuke asked.

          "A poem." Autumn answered.

          "Aw, the cute little lovebirds!" Thorn said.

          "I FOUND MATCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Arielle yelled happily.

          "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Everyone started trying to get the matches away from Arielle.

          ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dream: I'll probably write little short stories after this…

Freckles: It's really done, then?

Dream: YUP!

Kurama: stupid step brother…

Freckles: o.O Kurama is angry.

Dream: *dances*

Freckles: Autumn is happy.

Dream: Stop doing that!

Kurama: Well anyways…

Dream, Kurama, Freckles and everyone else: HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!


End file.
